


Vigilant Traits

by QuirkQuartz



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Cute, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hero School, Love, Romance, Superpowers, Whiterose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-09-11 00:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 64,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8945245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuirkQuartz/pseuds/QuirkQuartz
Summary: No Semblances. No Dust. No Weapons. No Aura. No Huntsmen or Huntresses. Only Traits and Heroes. Every person in Remnant has a Superpower from birth known as a Trait. Those who choose to use their powers to protect those who can't protect themselves are known as Heroes. And Beacon happens to be one of the schools who trains the next generation of Heroes. Team RWBY is made up of four of some of the most promising students of the many first year pupils, but they live in a world of brutality. New species of Humans known as Primals and Abnormals being just one of the world-shaking changes Traits have brought upon Remnant, and with crime across Vale sparking up, Team RWBY may have to face some of the danger and darkness of this ruthless world - Without the Heroes there to help them. WhiteRose,





	1. End Of Semester Assessment

**Author's Note:**

> Since this is my first RWBY story, lets establish some things straight way - This story is inspired heavily by My Hero Academia. HEAVILY. It's also very similar to my Those with Powers story - Miraculous Ladybug, RWBY and My Hero Academia well know for overlapping (Sarcasm) So that's where a lot of this comes from.  
> Second, this story takes place pretty much directly after volume 2, and in between volume 3. Everything that happened in the original story happened in this - Only We may have a canon divergence - We may not. I dunno yet, we'll see how I feel.  
> finally- Primarily WhiteRose, because they are adorable ad holy goddamn hell, and if they do not become canon, I swear to God, I'm gonna be incredibly unhappy, but I get ahead of myself! There may be some Bumblebee in here. I don't ship them much, but they're kinda cute, so why the hell not. We'll see ^_^
> 
> I hope you enjoy this - Please do let me know what you think - I'm very eager for feedback ^_^

Long before the Great War, long before Humankind came into contact with the Faunus race, and long before any kind civilization was made, there were Traits. Unique abilities that were hugely variable depending on the individual, with no two being the same. There were similarities, of course there were, but in essence, for every one of the millions of people in this world, there was a Trait that went hand-in-hand with them. Their usefulness was dictated by the creativity and imagination that the user implemented. No one knew how these powers came to be, but they had been a part of evolution for all races in the world from the very beginning.

A Trait was, in essence, a superpower. A superhuman ability that every person on the planet possessed, and with which they could do incredible things. Everything from Pyrokinesis to shape-shifting, to the control over the weather, and to Teleportation. Traits were an incredibly variable strand of DNA, and so little was known about them, despite having been an integral part of evolution for several tens of millennia.

What an individual's Trait would be was basically a dice roll. There were no cases of Traits at the very least being passed down genetically. The powers of the parents were completely irrelevant, and the child could end up with something world destructively powerful, or could be a danger to only insects that wondered too close.

Of course, with evolution being such a cluster at that point, it shouldn't have surprised anyone that a new sub-species had evolved from the baseline strain of Homo-sapien. Abnormals, only a four hundred year old species, had the ability to hold many powers within their bodies, and could pass them down genetically. As it stood, they were rarer than the Faunus were, living only in Menagerie at the point of their discovery. The same place as the Faunus were. Generally, it was believed that the Abnormal race evolved from the Faunus.

What characterized this species was a huge variety of inhumane appearances. Of course, Humans and Faunus had both evolved, and bizarre appearances weren't uncommon. In fact, they were the norm, particularly for a race in which every member possessed an animalistic quirk, but Abnormals took it to a whole new level. Beings made of fire and water as one, twisted amalgamations of beings. Only 20% of their entire species represented their original species anymore. Faced with such a horrific foe, Human and Faunus relationships improved dramatically. Of course, exceptions existed, but as a whole, Humans and Faunus were generally speaking, on the same page. Recently, Abnormals had begun to be treated as equal citizens, but there was still a long way to go. It was a painfully slow process, but one that the world stuck to nonetheless.

Such unique gifts were the source of a lot of violence in the early stages of the world. Using a Trait to level a city was practically commonplace in the ancient times, and was so for thousands of years. It wasn't until the Great War that the line was finally drawn, and it was established that if the world kept going like this, there would be nothing more than a pile of ashes to rule over.

Thus was born the concept of the Hero.

The job of a Hero was, in layman's terms, to protect the general population, regardless of prejudices and beliefs, from the dangers of the world. The Grimm in particular, but also from the Villains that inhabited the world. Those who used their powers for personal gain, for want of a better world, evil reasons. Heroes were given permission to use their Traits where it was otherwise forbidden in order to save those around them. But Heroes had to be trained in the use of their powers. Untrained Heroes were almost as dangerous as the Grimm were. To establish a place of learning, each one of the four kingdoms of Remnant were contracted to be given an Academy of their own, from which they would train, refine, and guide the next generation of Heroes to greatness.

Of all the academies in the World of Remnant, Beacon Academy was widely known as the one to go to if you wanted to learn to become a Hero. Of course every one of the four kingdoms had their own academy's, Mistral having Haven, Vacuo having Shade, and Atlas having the narcissistically named Atlas Academy, and while each one of these fine institutions could brag about their list of gradates and the success of their students in the world of Heroism, the fact was, they couldn't hold a candle to the marvellous success of Beacon. Of all the Academy's in Remnant, Beacon had gathered some of the best examples of the greatest Heroes to ever grace the field of Heroism. Summer Rose, Qrow Brawen, to name only two. Names practically etched into the world of legend.

Age of admission to Beacon Academy, as well as any other one of the four was, normally, 17. It was something that you had to train for years for, over a decade, to test the nerves and dedication of those who wanted to be Heroes. Combat schools, like Signal and Sanctum, conditioned their students for years before they would eventually send their applications for consideration, not just to Beacon, but Shade and Havan, Atlas too. Thousands were turned down every year. Only a handful of exceptionally skilled students were ever admitted into Beacon, or any other academy.

The fact that Ruby Rose was given a special invitation at the age of 15 was a huge testimony to her skill and innate talent. Not to mention her powers.

The fact she was made the leader of Team RWBY spoke even greater volumes.

* * *

"You didn't learn anything from that lesson, did you?"

"Eh heh heh... Not... Really..." Ruby scratched her cheek and awkwardly laughed, trying to shrug off Weiss's question. As per expectation, she felt that blunt hit to her forehead that came from the side of her partner's hand. She was used to the action by now, and it didn't really hurt. It was more akin to a slap on the wrist than it was anything else.

Weiss sighed irritably, grabbing the bridge of her nose and rubbing it. Tightly closing her eyes, she was unable to know if she was exasperated with the young leader of Team RWBY for not paying attention in class again, or if she had just grown to expect this from the girl, and couldn't decide which one annoyed her more. "You dolt. Sit down and get the textbook out."

Of every single lesson that Ruby had on her timetable at Beacon, Professor Port's lectures had to be one, if not the single most boring one that she had throughout her weekly life here. And of course, if she wasn't able to remember any of the subject material, Weiss would yell at her for not paying attention, smack her around the back of the head, and then take her through every single aspect of the lesson they had just gone through in their dorm rooms.

Like she currently was doing right now.

She tried, honestly she did, she tried to pay attention, but hearing Professor Port's constant stories about how he saved one village or another from cartoon Villains and the Grimm in-between the actually important stuff bored her beyond words. She'd start looking for something, anything, to break that monotony, and before she'd know it, the lessons were already done, and she hadn't learned a damn thing. To make matters a thousand times worse, it was on Ethics regarding Heroics, which was probably one of the three most valuable subjects that was taught at Beacon, alongside Trait Application and Combat Practice.

At this point, going through things with Weiss back in their dorms was easier for Ruby to understand. Weiss didn't spend ages talking about how she brilliantly defended a family of seven from beyond the walls of Vale from an encroaching Grimm attack. Not only that, but she also focused on teaching Ruby what she actually needed to know, not wasting any time on the miscellaneous details. Part of that was from the older girl's desire to waste as little time as possible with this retelling of a lesson that Ruby should have been listening to in the first place, but also part of it was because she knew that it was those little details that bogged Ruby down, and started to make her head spin.

Ruby nodded, and obeyed her partner. Sitting down next to Weiss and reaching into her bag, she routed through her belongings until she found a slim book, no hardback, and a slightly thicker, laminated-feeling cover on the outer pages, which she pulled into the air. Smiling at her victory against the force that was her schoolbag, Ruby announced in a sing-song voice, "Found it -"

"Wrong book."

Two blinks later, Ruby realized she'd retrieved one of those old age comics that Jaune had let her borrow for reading. Glancing to her left, she saw Weiss just looking at her in the normal neutral-angry expression, with her eyes half closed, and eyebrows buried. "Ah... Woopsie?"

Quickly returning to her bag in defeat, Ruby rummaged around again, this time acquiring the right target, a four-hundred-and-sixty-seven page mammoth of a book. Ethics held a huge part in the first year's curriculum, being taught nearly every day, with the exception of Fridays. The fact Ruby was struggling in it was not a good sign.

"Page two-thirty-three." Weiss instructed, edging closer towards Ruby so she could see the small writing that the book had printed at. At Calibri, size seven, it was difficult to see from even a small distance. Only a few reference images broke up the layers and layers of writing, otherwise leaving the pages with nothing but about seventy lines of intimidating text.

The subject matter regarded the use of Traits in a public area, something which wasn't entirely illegal, but it sure wasn't looked favourably at. It all depended on the kind of Trait it was. "Do you even know anything about Public Trait Usage?" Weiss asked, coldly. The white-haired girl hadn't asked out of any genuine malice - But Ruby was probably one of the most lax people she knew when it came to using powers in public. She's jump and dart around the place with her abilities, completely disregarding anything and anyone around her whenever she was brimmed with energy.

"Um..." The girl twirled her naturally-red-highlighted hair between her fingers and her thumb, gently biting her lower lip as she considered what the remembered from being taught at Signal. "Let's see... The use of powers that orientate around combat that could cause damage to property or people are strictly outlawed unless a Hero or someone with a licence is the one using them. So, Yang wouldn't be allowed to go boom in Vale..."

"Good."

"Emission types can't use theirs either for similar reasons... But movement types can be allowed if they acquire a certification."

"That's right. A certification you don't have." Weiss reminded her partner for maybe the sixth time this week alone. Why Ruby didn't just go and get one was beyond her. Maybe she just couldn't be bothered to. Moving away from the subject, Weiss went on to explain in more detail. "Exceptions for the use of powers can be forgiven, such as self defence, the defence of another person, a method of intimidation if feeling threatened, and of getting away from dangerous situations. Of course, there are lots of people who try to find loopholes in these laws, which is why Heroes have to carry both a lie detector and the knowledge of these laws."

"Aren't lie detectors like... Super big?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. She was now imagining having to run across the rooftops with a huge black box strapped to her waist, which would limit her speed at the worst, and completely and utterly screw her over at the worst.

"Not that kind." Weiss snapped irritably. Ruby should know this, surely? This was common knowledge, things the heiress had known since she was a small child. "They're small ear - sized contraptions that are able to tell if someone is lying by detecting flares of electricity that run through the nerves system. They only work with yes-no questions though."

Her partners silver eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment in admiration. In total spite of her harsh treatment of the girl, Weiss was receiving a smile from her partner. Expressing her respect of the intelligence the other girl seemed to possess, Ruby spoke in awe, "That's so smart, Weiss! You're super smart!"

This sort of response to her knowledge about the world around her was becoming more and more common whenever Ruby was taught anything by her partner, to the point Weiss had to remind herself, Ruby and Yang were from Patch, an out of the way island that wasn't all that close to the rest of the Kingdom of Vale. They lacked a lot of the huge technological applications that the mainland did, at least according to the two half-sisters. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise that Ruby hadn't heard about a lot of these contraptions. Weiss was the daughter of the head of the SDC - The Company which designed a lot of the costumes and gadgets Heroes needed and had come to rely on in their everyday lives. Surrounded by the everyday of her life, she had just integrated them into her memory

It was hard to remember that not everyone came from such a background, least of all Ruby. Such cold dismissals would be unjustified were Ruby not aiming to be a Hero herself. She had to know about all this sort of thing, and it was bad enough that it was already reaching the end of their second semester here, and Ruby still knew roughly as much as she did when she started here. Perhaps a bit more, but not nearly enough.

Her only redeeming quality in that regard was her combat prowess, and her Traits. Those aside, Weiss still couldn't get her head around the fact that Ruby had been specially invited to Beacon Were it not for the clear talent that Ruby showed, and the obvious potential that she would never vocally admit, Weiss would have said it seemed unfair.

Weiss made a dismissive noise to the compliments given to her, brushing them off as she normally would when they came from her young partner. "Hrmp. You dunce, these are things you should know by now. It's common knowledge! How do you even hope to become a Hero if you don't know what sort of equipment we're supposed to carry around?"

"Ummmm..." Ruby seriously took a few seconds to consider a valid answer, squinting her eyes and biting her lower lip as she attempted to think up one. "Enthusiasm and a can-do attitude?"

The way Ruby always acted so carefree, regardless of the situation was always something that Weiss could never understand, even when dealing with people who were so openly hostile towards her. She just didn't seem to care about that sort of thing.

She was just so friendly with everyone. Weiss just didn't get how.

The older girl let out a second sigh, this one half amused, half vexed, and rested her head in her hand, finding a resting place around the area her scarred eye resided. "Right. Moving on, these laws came into place because of the Great War..." The two continued going over the Ethics of Heroism, Ruby making an admirable effort to absorb the information that she was being pelted with, even taking down notes, which had her messy handwriting sprawled all over them quickly.

Whenever Ruby was called upon to recite the knowledge her friend had just given her, she would try her best, but occasionally fail, which earned her a harsh chide from said friend. Most people would be taken aback by such an abrasive personality. Not Ruby, apparently, who just responded to each of them with light laughter and a happy promise to do better next time.

It was one of the things that the pale skinned girl really, truly did admire about her partner. There simply wasn't any way of getting around that, the way that Ruby could so easily and readily act in such a sociable and kind manner to anyone she met was something that Weiss did find enamouring about her partner. Even in the face of such harsh treatment, she didn't really seem to register it all that much. That was something Weiss couldn't begin to comprehend.

The very first day they had met had ended in such an incomprehensible mess of both surprise and anger that Weiss had unleashed her own powers accidentally, probably nearly killing the klutz of a girl. After that, Weiss had unleashed absolute hell onto her. She didn't hold back, threw every insult and condescending phrase she had at the Ruby. She wasn't the kind of person to lie, and she didn't mince her words often. The only exceptions were when the situation truly called for it, or she genuinely felt too uncomfortable that one of the two was the only way out of the situation. These aside, when Weiss said something, she damn well meant it.

And how had Ruby responded?

Genuinely friendly interactions and acts of friendship.

How was that even possible? Weiss had asked herself this many times throughout their two semesters at Beacon, and she just couldn't figure out what it was that made the younger girl tick. Socially awkward as you could get, yet completely willing to engage in friendly conversation with someone who had made it explicitly clear wanted nothing to do with you? Had the heiress not seen Ruby's powers, she would have put her Trait down as sheer obliviousness.

And yet somehow, she'd grown fonder of the leader of Team RWBY. Enough to acknowledge that yes, there was potential in her, and yes, she had skill. There was a reason that Weiss was even helping Ruby here at all - To help her develop into the leader that Weiss had become truly convinced she could become.

That was it.

"Well, doesn't this look nice and cosy?"

Yang's sudden intrusion seemed to alarm Ruby, who made a small squeal and shifted back slightly, until she realized who it was, whereupon she relaxed immediately. It had come as a surprise to Weiss too, who was snapped out of her thinking, but not overreacting like Ruby had done. Turning her head to face Yang, Weiss could already tell she had a number of jokes or god-awful puns to make about the current situation. The brawler of the team had positioned herself in the door-frame, leaning on the right side of it, with arms folded and a smirk on her face. An eyebrow was raised above her left lavender eye, and her long blonde hair was almost doubling as a cloak for the well-endowed woman.

She looked thoroughly amused. What was so entertaining, Weiss had no idea.

"Oh, Yang." Ruby let out with a sigh. "It's you."

"Expecting someone else, Rubes?"

"N-No! You just surprised me."

"Uh huh." Yang grinned, looking at the two of her teammates. Swapping glances between Weiss and Ruby, her smile only grew more and more. If Weiss wasn't confused before, she certainly was now. Yang was thoroughly aware that their relationship could be strained one moment and mended the next. At this point, she saw it like free entertainment, almost as a soap drama, but there wasn't any sort of conflict happening here. "Not interrupting, are we?"

It was only with this statement that both the dorms occupants realized that Blake was stood behind her partner in the corridor, waiting patiently for Yang to do whatever it was that she had planned here. The Faunus girl held herself with composure, arms folded across her chest, with one arm still outreached so she could read one of the many books she owned. It didn't even surprise anyone anymore that she seemed to spontaneously generate these things out of the ether anymore. She must have reached an interesting part in this particular story, since her ears twitched underneath her large black bow atop her head, which hid her Faunus-based cat-eared quirk.

"Not particularly." Weiss responded plainly to the question asked. "I was just taking Ruby through Professor Port's lecture. The one she didn't pay attention to." Her last sentence went a bit deeper in tone as she shot a menacing look towards Ruby, who just laughed nervously.

"How nice of you." Yang commented, before pushing herself off the door-frame and standing upright, stretching her arms in doing so. "Anyway, come on, we've gotta go."

"Go?" Ruby questioned, with a tilt of her head. "Where're we going?"

"End of semester assessment." Blake simply said, not looking up from her book, and turning the page. She looked over the pages after a few seconds of silence to investigate why said silence had descended. "You didn't forget, did you?"

End of semester assessments basically translated to Trait assessments. At the end of each semester, the students would have to complete a series of seven events that would measure the progress that each student was making. These events were designed to make each of the students do several things. Number one was to showcase off the sheer power that each student had, demonstrating combat prowess and pure destructive force they possessed, and how much force they could put out with their powers. Number two was how much control they had over their abilities, which would be a huge requirement when using their deadly superpowers in a crowd of people, and the third thing was the creativity that they displayed, a key component in improvisation, adaptability, and ingenuity a Hero required. Each one of these factors was taken into consideration whenever they were marked, and given back their scores.

Scores fell into three categories also. The individual who displays the most talent and power, the team who shows the most overall progress, and the individual who has progressed the most. Competition was encouraged in a friendly manner to spark a fire in the students to push themselves to become better, to test the limits of their Traits, and to overcome them entirely. These seven events were the 100 meter dash, the ball pitch, the long jump, the high jump, projectile evasion or deflection, and application of force.

Last semester, the person who displayed the most individual skill was, unsurprisingly, Pyrrha, and that was unlikely to change anytime soon. Team QRTZ held the record for the most overall progress by a Team as a whole, and the person who had made the most progress was, and this was surprising, Jaune. Start from zero, and the only way was up, Weiss supposed.

Ruby had forgotten, very obviously. Her wide eyes and jaw dropped expression revealed that much instantly. How she had was a mystery. It was the end of the semester. An end of semester assessment seemed pretty logical. Weiss on the other hand hadn't forgotten in the slightest, and had in fact, prepared herself for said assessment rather diligently, practicing with her Trait nearly every day for the last few weeks, to the point where she was incredibly confident in her abilities.

"Of course not." Assured the white haired girl, reaching for her scroll k the time for said assessment period. Four thirty, as she remembered.

She only realized her mistake when she saw that it was currently four fifteen. She and Ruby had been at this for the last two hours, and had somehow gotten so engrossed into the subject matter that they had completely lost track of time. They barely felt like they'd been here for more than twenty minutes. Weiss had to rub her eyes to make sure that she was seeing the correct time. She was.

"So yeah." Yang chimed in, leaving her position from the door-frame. "We need to get going. Now, preferably, but please don't let me ruin your little den." The blonde grinned, before making her way down the halls with her partner in tow.

Weiss had to blink a couple of times before she turned to Ruby. "What's up with Yang? She's behaving... More..."

"More like Yang than usual." Ruby finished off the sentence perfectly. Her sister was acting more like Yang than, well, Yang normally did, which was certainly saying something, and Weiss wasn't sure if that meant she needed to be worried or not. "Dunno, but we should get going if we don't wanna be late."

"Right. We'll finish this off another time." Weiss agreed, raising to her feet and neatly placing putting her scroll alongside the rest of her belongings, perfectly placing it so the corners of the book she rested it upon lined up with her now closed device. She wouldn't need the high tech equipment for the assessment. Nor would she need to switch into any combat gear that she had. At the end of the first semester, many first year students had made the mistake of thinking that they'd need such things for the trials that they had. The only thing they needed was their Trait.

"Hey, Weiss?"

Ruby's voice was rather quiet when it reached Weiss's ears. Soft, nearly tender, like she was on the edge of the dragons nest, and being too loud would cause an eruption of fire. It reminded her partner of the first few interactions that they had, how Ruby would sometimes recluse into a soft manner of speaking before bursting out again.

Naturally, this sparked Weiss's curiosity. "What is it, Ruby?"

"Umm... I don't know if this goes without saying, or whatever... But, well, thank you. For helping me with everything."

This marked the first time Ruby had actually explicitly thanked Weiss for aiding her with her catch-up. Most circumstances saw either Ruby dashing away like a torpedo to God knows where doing God knows what, or Weiss would simply get up and focus on her own studies once she had finished tutoring Ruby. No thanks had ever been exchanged, and Weiss had assumed that Ruby had felt the same way that she had, that no thanks had ever needed to be explicitly stated between the two.

They were teammates. Partners. It was expected that they would help one another. It almost felt like second nature to Weiss to help Ruby at this point. After everything that Team RWBY had gone through together, dealing with Torchwick, the White Fang, and everything else that came with training to be Heroes.

Helping each other was almost like helping themselves. A stronger team was only a benefit to each of the individuals.

But that didn't change the fact Weiss had wanted to help Ruby for the sole reason of helping her leader to reach the best she possibly could.

She just needed to not make a habit of it. Better not to let Ruby end up becoming dependent on her. That would have the opposite effect of what she was trying to accomplish here. But still... Just hearing those words of thanks was enough for Weiss.

Showing one of her rare smiles, she responded with kind. "Sure thing."

* * *

Teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and CFVY, were just a few of the many team groups that Beacon housed, and that were currently stood awaiting the end of semester assessment to begin. Looking around, Ruby counted at least another ten teams around. Team's QRTZ and SLVR being two she had some very, very limited interactions with, and others like Team SPHR and MTAL she knew nothing about excluding reputation. Even Team CFVY she barely knew that well. It was a reminder, being stood there, of just how many students were here, aiming for the same thing that she was.

Humans, Faunus, Abnormals and Primals. Each one of the four main species of the World of Remnant co-existed within this school, not that it was to say that everyone was treated equally by their peers. By the staff, of course, but exceptions within the student body existed. Team CRDL's treatment of Faunus members of the school was testament to that in itself. Although other teams, like Team QRTZ seemed to be a perfect example of accepting individuals. It was refreshing to see that it wasn't just Team's RWBY and JNPR who were accepting of their fellow races.

The sheer variety of people here as well was enough to make someone's head spin. None of the teams from outside Beacon were here, since this was the test for Beacon students only. Different Academies would perform their own tests with their own groups, perhaps varying in the way they assessed their pupils. But from the students in Beacon alone, visual quirks and mutation-Type Traits none-withstanding, the level of variety here was astounding.

To give just a few examples, the leader of Team QRTZ possessed not only heterochromia iridum, he also seemed to be a split down the centre, having dark black hair on his left side, and snow-white on the right, eye colour opposing the side the hair was coloured, leaving him with a black iris on his right side, and a white one on his left. The leader of Team SLVR was someone who, fittingly, who had a body entirely made of said substance, making his team name all the more fitting.

Other such examples existed, like people who had tails, wings, some more obvious, and some more subtle things that made each individual stand out in some way. As fitting with the worlds focus on individuality, the introduction of Traits into Humanity meant that no two people, not even twins, would be identical anymore.

But it was also a reminder that everyone here had something that made them dangerous about them. There wasn't a way for them to be here if they weren't a dangerous person. To even enter Beacon, you had to be thrown into a forest filled to the brim with creatures of Grimm, so if you didn't have what it took to withstand that, you were screwed from the get-go.

So everyone here was deadly. Everyone here wanted to be a Hero. And everyone here was like a challenge that Ruby and her team had to surpass in order to improve and become the best they could be. That was the law of Remnant. The strongest survive. Especially true for Heroes. The ones who put themselves in the line of fire every single day.

Of course, Ruby never thought of it like that. She always liked to think of things as being a lot friendlier than that. That everyone was working towards the same goal and they were all here to help each other achieve it. It was an innocent way of looking at things, but not entirely incorrect either. That was the aim of the school, after all.

The clearing that the fifty or so students were stood in had all the equipment already set up by Professor's Ozpin and Goodwitch. Piles of rocks and softballs were scattered around the place, presumably to be used by the students at each of the varying stations. Their records would be tracked by high tech computers that would automatically track their progress, including distance, force and the likes, and transmit them to Ozpin and Goodwitch's scrolls. It seemed to be that they were still tinkering with that system before either of the professors addressed the large number of pupils eagerly awaiting to begin.

"That seems to have fixed it..." The head of Beacon muttered as he dialled a few keystrokes into his scroll. He paused for a second, typed in a few more, shrugged, and closed the device, and finally faced his student body. Clearing his throat, he made sure to speak loudly and clearly so everyone around him would be able to hear him. "I do hope that each of you has been taking your studies seriously throughout this past semester, and that you'll take the opportunity to show off what you have learned here today."

A few murmurs and sounds of the various students getting ready could be heard around Ruby, some activating their powers in miniature form as a way to expel some excitement, others cracking knuckles, and some slamming fists into open palms. Ruby herself felt her nails dig lightly into the flesh of her palms, but a smile spread across her lips.

"Each one of you here has something that makes you stand out from every other person in this world, regardless of race, gender, nationality, and heritage. We are given our gifts, but it is up to us to develop them. Your powers belong only to you, and to no other person, and you have all dedicated yourselves to using them to protect those who cannot protect themselves. This assessment is to evaluate not only your skill, but your dedication to that goal."

A philosophy that all of the first years had heard a thousand times before. Ozpin was consistent with it, and he always reminded them what they were there to do. It was clear her truly did believe everything that he said when he told them about it. He wasn't making up his beliefs just to keep his position at Beacon. He truly believed every single word.

It was good. Nice to hear that kind of genuine passion for what he held dear, not out of some ulterior motive, but because he genuinely held what he said close to his heart. Everyone remembered the many impassioned speeches he made when they first arrived in Beacon, it was clear how much he truly loved the work he did, even if he did have an aloof way of showing it.

"Mr. Xiao Long." Ozpin called out, turning his head towards Yang, whom he stood just maybe a few meters away from. When he had the young woman's attention, he knelt down and scooped up one of the softballs that was casually placed by his feet. Holding it up for her to very clearly see, he peered over his glasses and asked, "What was your record for throwing a softball at the end of the last semester?"

Yang blinked, and then responded. "Seven-hundred-thirty-two meters."

"Think you can do better this time?" Challenge issued, He threw the sphere to Yang, and saw her grin as she caught it in her right hand. He'd made the choice deliberately, knowing of Yang's fiery, competitive personality would be the perfect thing to spark everyone else into unleashing their fullest potential after setting a bar so high.

A few moments later, Yang was up at the pitch, stretching her arm, and getting out all of the cramps that inhabited it, and loosening it up for her pitch. There was a fire in her eyes, unmistakable by anyone who knew her. She had every intention of sending this thing straight into the stratosphere if her powers would permit it. Unlikely, but she'd damn well give it her best shot.

"Think she can beat it? She set herself a high record last time." Blake asked her teammates, her eyes narrowed in on her partners limbering up. Not that Blake doubted Yang's capabilities, but she wondered if she had set herself a realistic target to beat.

"She'll do it!" Ruby stated, absolute certainty obvious in her voice, not even the slightest hint of worry and doubt present. She had absolute confidence in her sister and teammate. Weiss had to agree. Besides, Ruby knew Yang the best out of all of them. She was probably the most capable of guessing out of all of them.

Around them, the other students began to take close attention to Yang, eager to see how she'd fare. Some looked for ways they could improve, making notes of things like stance and pitch, while others just watched out of curiosity and or sheer boredom.

Taking aim, Yang stuck her tongue out as she figured out the best way to go about this. She could already feel her power activating, bristling with the anticipation that came from the challenge set ahead of her. "Time to wrap this semester off..." Sparks flew off her, and when satisfied with her plan, she wound up the pitch, and began to throw and strong overhead lob.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been a very good throw anyway, but this situation allowed Yang to use her Trait to get the absolute maximum distance possible. She'd started out the year very strong with her first scored, and that had dramatically improved by the end of her first semester. Now, in between fighting the White Fang, Roman Torchwick, studies and hands-on-practice, she was set to completely obliterate that record.

Ninety degrees was a pointless point to throw it at. She'd get it high, sure, but that wasn't going to get her the distance she needed. Same with eighty or seventy.

Sixty would be too low.

Sixty five?... Her arm reached that point in its arch, so it was that or bust...

Now!

"...With a _Yang_!"

A tremendous explosion erupted from the blonde girls palm in an instant, expanding a good ten feet out into the air, and rippling all around her as she catapulted the softball into the air at incredible speeds. Anyone who hadn't been prepared to follow the immense speed that Yang's explosion had sent it flying at missed it, and within seconds, the ball was a speck in the horizon, and had to be followed via satellite imagery.

Smoke rose from Yang's palm, now sweaty from the aftermath of her powers. Her grin was still wide through, showing a full set of white teeth. It had gone far, far, far better than she had expected it to go, having seemingly almost doubled in power since the last time she had tried this.

Yang Xiao Long - Trait - Explosive Impact - Yang is able to make her body secrete a compound that is very similar to that of nitroglycerin from any point on her person. She can then force this compound to detonate at will, allowing her to create explosions from her skin, which can be used for both combat and mobility purposes. The more active she is, and the more damage that Yang takes, the more of this compound she is able to secrete at any one time. The drawback to this power however, is that overuse will make Yang's flesh begin to sear.

Yang had rocketed the softball a good One-thousand-two-hundred-twenty-six meters. Well over a kilometre. Noises of surprise and endearment were suddenly abound in the air, congratulating her on utterly obliterating her record. Only the members of Team RWBY who caught onto her namesake pun were groaning at its pure horribleness.

"Impressive." Ozpin complimented. Yang just smirked at him, and blew onto her hand to dissipate the rising fog from her explosion as she re-joined her team. While she did this, Beacon's Headmaster spoke loudly for all to hear, and issued his challenge to them. "This is your target to beat - Let's see what you've learned."


	2. Catching Up

People could say whatever they liked about Ruby - She was too young to be training and attending Beacon, she couldn't take things seriously enough, she had a reckless streak the size of the entire continent of Anima - But aside from the fact that her team would defend her to the death, the accusations were simply not true.

The Schnee heiress had believed every single one of these about Ruby, and to an extent, she still did. She wouldn't back down on her stance that Ruby needed to be reined in when it came to the way she would charge at her enemies without even mild concern for her own well-being - Team RWBY wasn't going to be effective if their leader went and got herself killed, now were they? - and that she needed to learn when it was time to stop joking around and get serious about certain tasks, but she didn't think Ruby was too young to be training alongside the other students now. Not anymore, since it was pretty clear she'd be able to give anyone here a run for their money.

Particularly with her powers. Powers being plural. As in, more than one. It was just one of the things that made her special.

Ruby was a very, very rare human case, with a mutation that was known as a Dual Trait, believed to affect maybe one and a half percent of the species. Put simply, it did exactly what its name suggested, and gave Ruby the ability to use two separate superpowers that weren't connected in any way whatsoever. With Abnormals having the ability to store multiple powers in their bodies, Humans having more than a single power was a rarity indeed.

Commonly, it was believed that hair was a good indicator of people who held this Trait. Although not necessarily exclusive to them, or inherently theirs alone, people who had two shades of natural hair colour seemed to have a higher chance of developing this particular mutation. Ruby's natural red highlights were evidence of this.

For whatever reason, Yang hadn't inherited the mutation, but she had been born with her incredibly powerful Explosive Impact Trait, so she had no complaints whatsoever. She didn't feel like she needed any of the stuff that Ruby was toting around the place, since her powers were directly involved in movement.

Ruby Rose – Primary Trait – Teleportation – Ruby possesses the ability to instantaneously move from her standing location to another location that she can either see, or has previously been to, as long as they are within a three miles radius of hero. She is able to do this by deconstructing her atomic structure, and the reconstructing it in a different location at light speeds, thus granting her instant Teleportation. However, the drawback to this power is that it is directly tied to Ruby's stamina, meaning if she is exhausted, she cannot use this power. Additionally, using it will gradually run down her stamina as if she were running. Whenever she uses this power, she leaves rose petals in the place where she previously was, and the place that she is going to reappear.

When it was Ruby's turn to head up to the plate she used this power to save the time of having to walk over there. Instead, she simply Teleported right next to Ozpin, and acquired her softball from him, and Teleported once again to the starting podium, leaving a flurry of petals in her wake. They faded away into nothingness over a short period of time, although the Headmaster had to brush a few that fell near his face.

The trick with the Softball throwing trick was that they couldn't leave the circle that they were being provided with. Said radius was able a meter wide in all directions, and while the students could do whatever the hell they needed to within that radius, they couldn't leave it no matter what. Run ups, build ups, preparing large contraptions, whatever, it was all fair game, just so long as they didn't leave that set area.

Weiss knew her partner was special in this regard, but she knew that she wouldn't be attempting to make her score using Teleportation. Quite frankly, it was because she just wasn't allowed, since it would count as he having left the starting ground. That left her Secondary Trait, which she was always aiming to improve on, but as of right now, at least to the best of Weiss's knowledge, Ruby would struggle with this. She would need a far bigger space for a build-up to make any real distance with this event.

Still, Ruby didn't seem to lack any of the confidence that she had. Matched only by her overly enthusiastic love for learning about new ones, Ruby was skilled in the powers that she did have. There wasn't any question about that, at all, and it wasn't a surprise to anyone who had seen her in action how she had managed to get into Beacon two years earlier than everyone else there. And right now, that confidence, that excitable personality that characterized their young leader was visually obvious. She was even doing light bouncing onto the tips of her toes as she psyched herself up. While she might be awkward when it came to social situations, when it came to her powers, Ruby was more than happy to show off a bit,

"Are we sure that Ruby is going to be alright with this?" Weiss questioned her teammates, brushing a strand of hair away from her scarred eye. "She doesn't exactly have a lot of room to use her Secondary. She needs a build up to use it, and I don't think she has a lot of room to work with."

When she first met Ruby, Weiss had dismissed her as being let into beacon for the sole reason that she was lucky enough to have the rare Dual Trait mutation, and as a nuisance since she'd caused Weiss to accidentally unleash her own powers out of pure shock, that they were insanely fortunate not to have been either frozen or burned to death by the release. It had pretty much, as far as Weiss had been concerned, set the tone of their relationship.

Being partnered with her was… Probably the best-worst thing that had happened to her. Worst at the time because this girl was as juvenile and essentially worthless as a baby bird without a set of wings, but as time had passed… Weiss saw the true potential that she really did have. Skill, talent, and true dedication towards becoming a Hero. Had Weiss never been able to see this all first hand, she would have never believed it in a million and one years to be true for the klutz of Beacon, and yet here she was, singing her leaders praises a thousand times over.

Ruby trained. Hard. When there were no classes, pressing matters that needed dealing with, homework, or any distractions, she'd spend the free time that she did have at the training grounds, honing and refining her powers to a level that she wanted them to be at. Always trying to get better. Pushing herself. Sparring matches with Pyrrha and Nora, Yang and pretty much anyone else who was willing to train with her.

It hadn't gone unnoticed by Weiss, and she admired Ruby for that, if nothing else. Not that there wasn't a lot to respect about her, but if pressed, Weiss would chose to say that that the one thing she would say in her grace. Of course, she still had a long way to go, just like everyone did. With two powers, Ruby had to work twice as hard to master both of them, and Weiss still aimed to stay ahead of Ruby in all of these regards - She vowed to be her very best teammate, and to guide the girl when she needed it, extend a helping hand and make her work when she had to, but that didn't mean that she didn't have her own drive, her own reasons for wanting to be the best.

She was aiming to simultaneously stay ahead of Ruby, yet bring out the best in her.

Right now though, there didn't look to be a whole lot of ways for Ruby to show off that talent.

"She could just throw it normally, I suppose." Blake suggested, nodding in her agreement with Weiss's assessment. "No rules against doing that, and try to get a better score on the other tests."

Team RWBY's resident brawler just grinned at her two teammates with a knowing smirk, and patted both of them on their shoulders. "Just you two watch. She's gonna be totally A-Okay."

"What makes you say that?" The groups Faunus questioned, tilting her head back slightly to get a better look at the blonde woman.

Yang grinned, wide enough that her teeth showed past her lips. "You don't think when Ruby goes out training, she's just messing around, do you Blakey? Watch this."

With all the commotion having died down, Ruby prepared to pitch the ball with her left arm, winding it back and positioning herself for a long throw. As she did this however, her Secondary Trait activated, which, same as the first one, gave the after effect of rose petals scattering around her, except in this case, it only seemed to come from her left arm. Like that particular limb was the only one that was actually charging up anything at all.

But that couldn't be right...

The Dual Trait holder took a step forward and pitched the ball - And it went skyrocketing into the air with incredible force, making Yang's previous throw look like a little hiccup in comparison. The overall distance wouldn't be the same, since

Ruby had pitched hers at a higher angle, but the initial impact had been more that enough to send a bellowing gust of wind into every single person presents faces.

Ruby Rose - Secondary Trait - Kinetic Speed - Ruby has the ability to generate and create kinetic energy from inside her body, which she is able to use to give herself immense speed whenever she desires. Under normal circumstances, when this power is activated, it will spread throughout Ruby's entire body. However, with enough training, Ruby is now able to select which parts of her body she specifically wants to generate kinetic energy from, which by transferring into other targets, can give her an incredibly large boost in her physical strength. Overusing this power, however, will cause Ruby to tear her muscles. To prevent this, her body can shut down her power briefly in order to stop her from taking permanent damage, though she can override this. Doing so however, holds the obvious risks.

Once the ball hit the ground, her distance was recorded up on the monitors - Eight-hundred-forty-three meters. A huge distance, and for Ruby in particular, a milestone - Well over three times the score that was her original at the end of the last semester.

There wasn't any other way to describe it - Weiss was utterly gobsmacked. Completely unbefitting her normal composure, her own jaw dropped at this insane improvement in her younger partner.

Of course, Weiss had been helping her from an academic standpoint, and she knew exactly what kind of things that Ruby was capable of when she used her Traits in rapid enough succession. Like anyone with a Dual Trait, Ruby has incredible skill and powers that regular people who only had a singular Trait couldn't hope to match up to. It was simply undeniable that Ruby had skill...

But she'd improved so much! Until just that demonstration, neither Weiss nor Blake had ever seen such use of her Kinetic Speed Trait. Whenever Ruby had used it before, it forced her entire body to almost wrap itself around her body, like a torpedo or bullet in a certain sense. While it had been theorised that maybe she could prioritize certain parts of her body, she'd never shown anything that even hinted that she was even slightly close to getting to do those sorts of things! How was that even possible?! How could she be improving this quickly?!

Weiss forced herself to calm down and think. This was Ruby she was thinking about. Should she even be surprised that she was rocketing this incredible growth and improvement? Did it even register?...

And yet... Somewhere in the white haired girl, there was something there. Not respect, nor admiration. They were present... But they weren't what seemed to be dominating her senses right now.

Was she jealous? Of her progress? Or was it... Was it that her fears were starting to surface? That she lacked the skills she so desperately longed for, that she believed that she had had for so long...

Was it that she both admired and resented Ruby for these things? Did that even make any sense?

Did she even want it to? The implications of it certainly weren't pretty.

"You see that, Weiss?!"

Without any warning, Ruby had reappeared by her team’s side while Weiss had been busy contemplating, which caught her off guard. A slight breaking of composure led to what could, for the tiniest of seconds, be called a squeal, left Weiss's mouth, before she instantly corrected and composed herself.

"Yes, you've... Certainly improved." She complimented, sounding far more composed than her two other teammates. It didn't make her applause for her partner any less genuine. She just wasn't sure what there was to even say to that kind of display.

Even Blake had a registered level of excitement, which was certainly unusual for their solemn Faunus member, bit it spoke volumes as to how Ruby had blown the group away with such growth...

* * *

 And it only got better. Or worse, depending on the perspective.

The entire day was filled with the aforementioned events, and in each of them, Team RWBY displayed a great level of skill and ability. Each one of them excelled far beyond anyone’s reasonable predictions. Since they were some of the few students who had been given a real taste of the dangers outside Vale and the safety of Beacon, it was to be expected.

They'd been shown first hand that the world out there was unforgiving, if it weren't already obvious enough. They'd been there, they'd sampled that danger, and learned that if you expected to survive, especially as a Hunter or Huntress, you had to be as equally ruthless and give everything you had, and more.

It wasn't a matter of doing your best and thinking that next time you'd do better. Next time wouldn't happen, because you'd be long dead and buried, if there was even enough of your corpse to bury.

And so, for the next hour and half, they performed the many tasks Ozpin had assigned them, and with each of them, they put in absolutely everything that they had. They pushed their Traits to their absolute limits...

But as they did, a disturbing trend came into notice.

Second. Third. Third. Fourth. Second. First. Second.

These scores kept repeating themselves whenever Weiss was ranked when it came to Team RWBY'S interim scores. She scored a first place in only one event throughout the entire day, and that wound up being Projectile Evasion and Deflection.

This event was essentially a firing range, where a set of automated dispensers would fire softballs at a group of eight at a rapid rate to simulate bullets or other incoming targets that could be deadly. Softballs weren't of course, but they had an additional punch to them. They had been modified with an acceleration type Trait, which meant that they would be packing a punch enough to knock someone off their feet, so it was close enough to being a real threat.

Teams RWBY and JNPR had been assigned to the course at the same time, each of the individuals within those teams being given their own lane to work in. The lanes were about ten meters by two long, a loaded dispenser staring the students down. These would go on for exactly a minute, and then stop. Score would be determined on if any hit you, and how close they came to hitting you without interception - Basically, don't get hit, or get close to being hit, and you'd be totally fine.

Those within Team RWBY had their confidence and their experience on what they needed to do. They knew what they were doing, each of them with their own method of evading the soon to be incoming softballs.

"Why don't I have a good feeling about this?.." Jaune's pessimistic mutters could be heard from over on his lane before he steeled himself for whatever was to come.

A speaker unleashed a starting cry, and just like that, the softballs began to fire like an unrelenting machine gun, changing angles at regular intervals, and aiming for specifically weak points, intending to knock out the students with each and every attack. One came right after another, and another, and another.

For someone with a power like Yang's, this was a fairly easy thing to deal with. Unleashing explosion after explosion from all over her body, she was able to deflect the vast majority of the softball with ease, not showing even the slightest strain or struggle as she threw punches with then erupted into magnificent explosions that battered her targets with ease. That wasn't to say that Yang didn't occasionally slip up and allow herself to get hit, but she was doing a good job overall

Like her sister, Ruby was having no issues with evading the speeding softballs. With her ability to Teleport rapidly, she was able to dodge each one of the incoming projectiles easily, but just like her sister, she wasn't perfect when it came to evasion. That wasn't particularly Ruby's style even at the best of times. She relied heavily on her Kinetic Speed Trait, and as such, she didn't put too much stock into her ability to dodge things when not using it. Since the area was too small, using her Secondary Trait was out of the question. So she used her Primary, and had to suffer the consequences of that.

Meanwhile, Blake was doing a moderately good job, but it didn't compare to her teammates. This situation that she found herself in, while something she could normally do without even thinking about it, was something that she wasn't able to fully deal with. Part of it was to do with her power. While she had incredible speed and reflexes thanks to her training, her Trait in this situation wasn't helping her deflect things too well at all.

Blake Belladonna - Trait - Shadows - Blake has the ability to create darkness, and give it mass. When she had given it a solid form, she can use this darkness to do whatever she desires with, such as tendrils with which to attack her opponents, shields, clones of herself, or anything else that she wants. A downside to this power however, is that the more she uses it, the less agile she will become for a short span of time, since using her power takes a lot of concentration. Additionally, this power works better in darker areas, and when used in direct sunlight, it can be limited in its usefulness.

It didn't matter how many barriers or tendrils she used to beat back her opposing projectiles, she didn't have enough to work with. Combined with the fact that the day was bright and the sun was strong, and Blake was at a disadvantage, no matter how much of a fight she put up.

But for Weiss? This wasn't even a challenge. She could play a defensive game all day.

The pale skin on her hands quickly slammed into the ground, and she activated her own Trait. Almost instantly, before the first softball had even gotten halfway across the lane towards her, a thick wall of ice arose from the ground, building itself up rapidly, layer by layer within milliseconds.

She put about three good inches between her and the incoming salvo of attackers, creating a barrier around herself that not even vanilla bullets would be able to penetrate. Someone could attack her with a tomahawk and an ice-pick, and they wouldn't be able to even scratch the surface of this densely compacted frozen water vapour. She'd perfected this technique long before arriving at Beacon, and there was absolutely no chance for failure when she used it. That wasn't overconfidence. That was just fact.

If there was one person who, despite his vocal lack of it, had overconfidence, or perhaps just dumb zeal, it was Jaune. By nature, his Trait meant that he had pretty much every right to be in that frame of mind, yet his lack of skill using it meant that it didn't work out that way.

Unlike everyone else, who was either blocking from a long range or dodging the incoming projectiles entirely, Jaune made no effort to do either. Instead, he created an X shaped block with his arms, and allowed each and every object that flew his way to hit him, straight on. Each one that did though, was instantly sent flying off in a random direction, depending on the exact angle that it hit him at.

Jaune Arc - Trait - Ricochet - When struck by a projectile, object, or even another person, Jaune is capable of causing the attack to completely bounce off him, towards a completely random direction. While he is capable of adjusting the angle that the attack will bounce off at, he is not that knowledgeable with what movements will make attacks go in which direction. While his Trait protects him from feeling any pain initially, if he keeps using it for an extended period of time, his Traits drawback will activate, reducing the level of tolerance to pain that he has. If kept up for too long, he will lose this tolerance entirely. His Trait will not deactivate, however.

His Trait inherently made Jaune incredibly useful when it came to defence, but it came with a huge risk factor, not to himself so much, but to those around him. Since he still didn't know how the different bumps and angles of his body would send attacks flying in which direction, he still posed risk to anyone who was in roughly 180 degrees of him.

After about twenty seconds of him deflecting all incoming attacks with absolutely no issues, one stray softball, dragged down by the effects of gravity, landed on his right elbow at a pointed bone on his body, and at a bad angle. It shot off his body at a perfect 180 degrees - Right at the other students to his right.

He was the first to notice this, naturally. In a moment of panic, he deactivated his Trait and yelled to Team RWBY. "Crap, watch out!" Before he was smacked in the back of his head by one of the softballs.

It had shot past Yang before she even knew what the heck was going on, and Blake's quick reflexes allowed her to dodge it by the skin of her teeth. Ruby was able to dodge the attack by Teleporting at the last moment, leaving it on a direct trajectory for the heiress to the SDC.

Her response was instant, swift, and purely reflexive. Having heard the warning, she had already begun to prepare, and the second the ball sped past Team RWBY'S resident dolt, a second wall, this time to her left side, built itself up and defended her, forming in less than a second once again, despite this time only using her left hand to freeze the area around her. It had taken a little more effort because of this, but it was so easy, so none-threatening to the Schnee girl, that her head hadn't even begun to turn before she had completed the wall.

Since it was still going off at such high speeds, the ball carried the energy it still had, and bounced right back off of Weiss's ice wall, and ricocheted right off, straight into the crowd of students, still watching.

A loud, crisp smack was heard as it made contact, right into someone’s face.

Weiss, since she was covered on all sides, was able to look back to the person that had been hit as a direct result of her actions. For a moment, she felt guilt, before she remembered that if she hadn't, that would be her right now. That didn't make her feel much better, but she knew it wasn't her fault.

The student who had been hit was the leader of Team QRTZ, a student who had the name Quartz. The boy's most distinguishing feature was his black and white hair, split down the centre of his head. He almost seemed calm about it for a moment, before he snapped. For a second, he stood there dazed, before he reached down to pick up the softball by his feet and glared at Jaune, his left eye narrowed, while his right was as wide as possible. "You trying to get someone killed, Arc?!" He yelled in retaliatory anger. He didn't seem to blame Weiss for the accident whatsoever. As he shouted, the ball in his palms disintegrated into nothing more than ashes, no doubt a part of his Trait.

"My mistake!" Jaune apologised with a nervous chuckle and grin at the seething Team Leader, while still on his back from having been knocked over by the softball that hit him.

"Oh, Jaune." Pyrrah sighed, offering a hand to her friend, which he accepted. "I guess we'll have to keep at training you on that, won't we?"

Just as Weiss thought about how Jaune could not be any more painfully oblivious, the event ended just after that occurrence, much to everyone’s relief. This was the only event Weiss placed first in within her Team.

She was placing high on the full leader board of course, but for some reason, her lower scores within her team... Seriously bugged her. Weiss wasn't the kind of person to lie unless she had a very damn good reason. When she called Ruby a dolt, or an idiot, she meant it.

So if Weiss was placing lower than her in just about all of these events - Consistently - then what did that make her?

* * *

 "Ruby."

The silver eyed girl rolled over in her sleep, trying to shrug off whoever the hell was trying to make her rise this early in the morning. With the End of Semester Assessment having exhausted her, Ruby had pretty much instantly crashed into her bed the second that she got back to her room, not even bothering to change from her school clothes, or even unhook her cape from around her neck. Instead, she used it as an improvised blanket. Adding onto that, she wasn't even resting her head on her pillow, rather, she was cuddling up to it, like a child might do with a teddy bear. If anyone asked her how this had happened, Ruby would respond that honestly, she had absolutely no idea.

"Wake up. Ruby."

Right now though, she was having more trouble sleeping than was ever really acceptable.

As soon as whoever the heck this was started poking her cheek, she wasn't able to just ignore it anymore. Groggily, the young girl lifted her eyelids open, looking around the room tiredly. The sheets she had hung up around her bed like a mini fort in the sky had been parted as someone had pushed them either side in order to get a better look at the Dual Trait user. That same figure still stood there, watching Ruby, attempting to wake her up.

"Whu - Wiess?..." She was able to make out the silhouette of her partner by her asymmetrical hairdo before her eyes fully adjusted to the darkness. "What’s going on? Did something happen?" Ruby yawned.

"Nothing happened." Weiss assured her. "I just need to speak with you."

"Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m sleepy..."

"No. It can't. It's urgent." Before the younger girl could make any protests whatsoever, she found herself lumped with a set of clothes being slapped onto her lap atop her duvet that Weiss had put down. They were cold to the touch, even though her covers, and Weiss was making completely certain that Ruby was feeling it, thanks to her Trait. "Put these on and meet me outside."

Her literally cold instructions shot Ruby's eyes open, and deciding that she didn't really have a whole lot more options, nodded in her agreement. Once Weiss had left the room, Ruby climbed down and looked outside the window of the room she, Weiss, Blake and Yang shared. Her two other teammates were nowhere to be seen, which confused her, until she looked at the time on her scroll, whose light blinded her for a few moments. Despite how dark it was, it was only 20:13. Blake and Yang would probably be out doing something calm and solemn, or chaotic and hilarious respectively.

Ruby had been under the impression that it had been early morning. It hadn't even passed the midnight hour yet. So she'd gotten maybe four hours sleep before. She'd been awoken. She rubbed her eyes in this revelation, and yawned again.

Despite how cold they were, Ruby switched out of her school uniform into the clothes Weiss had provided, but it wasn't until she was half naked and about to switch into the given clothing that she realised this the clothes were her own Hero Costume.

What the heck did Weiss need her in this for? What was so urgent that she needed to speak with her while in full combat gear? She knew she wasn't going to get any answers by standing around, so she swiftly threw on the clothes, and Teleported to the outside.

Reappearing just outside the main door to the rest of Beacon proper, Ruby brushed aside a few of the rose petals that her Trait created... For a moment, she thought she was alone, and had wound up in the wrong place, until she spotted her partner not a few meters away, sat on one of the benches. It looked like she hadn't even realised that Ruby had arrived, instead just sat quietly, staring at her lap, and running her right hand through her lopsided hair, deep in thought.

Ruby just watched Weiss for a few moments, seeing the looks on her face, and the rhythmic way she'd shift her hand through her pony-tailed hair. She saw how she bit her lower lip lightly, like she was nervous, second guessing herself before she knew she was being watched. It was a rare moment in which Weiss was showing any sort of doubt or weakness whatsoever, even if she wasn't aware that her teammate wasn't far away. No one else was around, in of itself an oddity, since it wasn't that late.

If you asked anyone, Ruby included, Weiss was an amazingly beautiful girl. That much simply could not be disputed in any way. White hair like snow, and pale white skin that showed off amazingly bright ice blue eyes. But with such beauty did come at a cost. It meant that when she was upset or concerned, her expressions made it so painfully obvious, she might as well be firing a signal flare into the sky.

And if someone knew Weiss, really knew her, then they would be able to tell that it took a lot to get her to be concerned like that. She had fairly thick skin, and wasn't some precious flower. She was as tough as any other Hero-In-Training. With that though, they knew she was stubborn, so she'd refuse to ever admit that something was wrong unless pushed.

Something Ruby was particularly good at.

"Weiss?"

Her high pitched voice cut through the silence that the night had. She immediately caught Weiss's attention, the older girl's head snapping to face the younger girl like her head was on a chain that had just been yanked. She'd been caught off guard, surprising, considering she should have been expecting her partner to be arriving at some point soon.

She'd been lost in thought, there wasn't any doubt. It only whet the curiosity that Ruby had now. Before Weiss had said anything, Ruby used her Trait to Teleport directly next to her, something that Weiss had gone on record to say that she hated Ruby doing, since from her perspective, the younger girl's face was suddenly about an inch from hers.

"Hiya!"

Weiss shot back in surprise of the younger girl’s use of her Trait, before quickly recomposing herself. She rose quickly from her seat, and tried to calm her surprised self down into an orderly manner. "Ruby! H-How many times do I need to remind you not to do that! You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days!"

Ruby just giggled on the spot, not making any effort to alter the positioning she had found herself in once she'd exited her Teleportation - Leaned forward slightly, at around neck height to Weiss now, and her hands behind her back. A lone rose petal landed on her shoulder, before phasing out of existence completely. "So... I'm here! What's up?"

"I need to speak with you."

"Yeah, you said that... What about?"

The older girl shook her head, her asymmetrical ponytail threatening to throw itself over her shoulder and rest itself on her chest. Turning around, she made a gesture for the younger girl to follow her. "Not here. Away from Beacon, just for a short while." She didn't wait to see if Ruby had any intention of following her, making her way out of the school grounds already.

The Dual Trait girl did obey her elder partner, and followed her quite happily, edged on by curiosity and compelled by the mystery...

* * *

 ...Which was quickly making itself obsolete by the time they had walked no less than three solid miles outside of both Beacon and the city of Vale itself. The found themselves surrounded by wilderness and trees, nothing so far away that the creatures of Grimm would be lurking around the place. They couldn't get this close to Vale without getting torn to pieces by Heroes or border patrol guards within nanoseconds of their sighting.

Yet still, Weiss had insisted that they needed to go further away from the city, and had refused Ruby's offer to Teleport them both as far out of the city limits as she physically could get them. The reason she gave was that it would interfere with her plans, and that reasoning was starting to drive Ruby crazy. If this was how Weiss had felt when she first met Ruby, then the girl in red and black couldn't blame her for wanting to sucker punch her into interstellar orbit.

But either way, this was not like Weiss. Not even close.

"Weiss?" No response.

Weiss was no Blake. When something was bothering her, she was normally pretty vocal about it, at least around her team. There were times it was hard to get her to stop talking, the Faunus incident being a big indicator of that, before she'd changed her mind-set about that sort of thing. There were other examples...

Not one came close to this though. Nothing even remotely. This barely even seemed like Weiss, and more like a wraith or something. Either Ruby had done something so unfathomably wrong Weiss was bringing her out here to lecture the ever loving holy Hell out of her...

Or something was seriously, seriously wrong here.

"Ice Queen?" Still nothing. If her worry hadn't been sparked before, it certainly was now. It had been a very, very long time since Weiss hadn't reacted negatively to that name - If ever, come to think of it.

There was a certain amount that Ruby was willing to put up with, and this had well surpassed the limit about a mile ago. She was the type of person that was willing to do anything when it came to her friends - Weiss especially - But God damn it, she couldn't put up with this anymore!

It was a leash Ruby finally had broken.

The second time that night, the younger girl Teleported right in front of her partner, this time even closer than she had previously. "Weiss!"

In hindsight, it had been a mistake on Ruby's half. Jumping in so close, Weiss hadn't even had the time to react to her presence. Instead, she just kept walking, and the two of them bonked heads - literally. It hadn't been a gentle blow either. Ruby hadn't been aware, but Weiss's walking pace had increased somewhat, only resulting in a harder blow for the forehead for both of them.

Both of them instantly reeled back, clutching their respective foreheads, and hissing in pain. In the case of Weiss, she was able to generate ice to keep against her forehead to numb the blow.

Still, the pale girl was furious at that point. "For the love of - I told you something like this would happen!" She gritted her teeth again as she felt a throbbing in her head.

"Owwww..." Ruby groaned, tightly grabbing hold of her own head and trying to suppress the pain the best she could. "Well you're the one keeping secrets!"

"What are you - "

"Weiss, we've been walking for ages! I don't even recognise this area anymore. We're as far away from Vale as we need to be, you need to tell me what's going on here!"

"Not yet. Just a bit further -"

"I'm not taking another step until you tell me what the heck's going on!"

Sighing, Weiss relented to her younger partner’s stubbornness. They had to be far out enough now for her to do what it was that she wanted to do here. Ideally, she would have liked to be a bit further out... But this would do fine. They had a slight clearing... She should be able to get rid of any of the trees that she needed to be rid of for this to work.

This would have to work.

"...Okay, this will do, I suppose." She submitted, turning around so her back was the only thing visible of her to Ruby. Silent for a few moments, she didn't say anything, trying to find the words that she'd planned out hours ago, now lost to her memory. Taking a deep inhale, and then a slow exhale, she began to speak. "Ruby, I do believe you're a good leader. I also do believe that you will make an excellent Hero once we graduate."

"Umm... Thanks? Is that all?" Her statement, while appreciated, seemed to be... Almost pointless. Why had Weiss felt the need to bring her out here for something that trivial?

No, there was something more here, no question about it. The way she was speaking right now... It made Ruby think that Weiss felt that something was wrong. There was something not right here...

"You know my reasons for trying to be a Hero very well. I want to redeem my family's name. I've not made a secret of why I'm here. It's been my driving force for... A long time." Weiss decided to continue on. Now that she was explaining, she found herself unable to stop the torrent of words that just poured out. "And to do that, I set my own standards high. I aim to be the best."

A completely reasonable thing to want and aim for, given their education, Ruby thought. It was impossible to begrudge someone who wanted to be the best at something, and put serious effort into achieving that. Ruby was the same way. Though still unsure as to where exactly this was going, the Dual Trait girl was certain that she didn't like it.

"...And then you show up."

"M-Me?"

"I don't like lying, so I avoid doing so. When I call you a dolt, an idiot or otherwise, I mean it."

"Okay, ouch..."

"...And yet, you're better than I am."

This didn't elicit a response from Ruby, who was now intently listening to every word that came out of the Schnee's mouth. Never had it occurred to Ruby that she might be above Weiss's level. Truth be told, she'd never once even considered it. It didn't seem viable. Weiss was skilled and talented and graceful, all the things someone like Ruby threw aside in exchange for power and speed. She'd heard such compliments from Yang before... But never once considered the possibility of them being true.

There was no way she was superior at using her Traits to Weiss.

"You had me beat in every single one of those events today. The only one I was victorious in was one where I hid behind a wall of ice... And that doesn't express a whole lot of skill to me. If I'm that bad... If you're an idiot, if you're a dolt of a leader and a dolt of a Hero... What does that make me? That's why... I wanted to come out here today, with you."

With a quick motion, Weiss was on the floor, her hands rapidly generating cold and ice all around them. The floor, the sides, and even above them suddenly became encapsulated in a thick ice cube, engulfing just a few trees, but providing both a large and impenetrable prison, without freezing Ruby to the ground, and even fields - Nothing that one side could use against another.

Only now did it occur to Ruby why she had been brought so far away from Beacon and Vale, somewhere she barely recognized. Only now did she realise the reason Weiss had trapped them in here.    

Only now did her ramblings make any sense.         

"W-Wait, Weiss?"       

The shorter, pale girl rose back to her feet, and along her right arm, ice had formed around, jagged and refined, almost like scythes and blades. Coldness fell around Weiss, coating her in a small blanket of frost. Icy eyes focused on silver ones. Weiss was serious.

"I want to fight you."


	3. White Versus Red

If a goldfish was judged on its intelligence by its ability to climb a tree, a goldfish would always be classed as an idiot. A smart person once said that, not that Ruby remembered exactly who that quote was from. But the message was clear - Different people had different strengths. That was just how Humans were built, especially since Traits had made their way into society. Some were incredibly quick, like Ruby was. Some had raw power, like Yang, and some had deliberate movement and skill, like Blake. Each person has a move set, and their Traits helped them, or totally refined those battling styles. It was unique to every person.

When it came to Weiss, Ruby thought she was a rare exception, who could excel at all things possible. Her Trait was incredible, and if she used it right, she would easily be able to use perfect movements to overpower pretty much the rest of their team.

She had real drive, and it only had seemed to intensify with recent developments, after dealing with Roman Torchwick. She had thrown herself into improvement, into developing further.

She had a Trait that gave her so many more options than Ruby had, and she was dealing with a Dual Trait, which spoke volumes to the kind of power that Weiss had the her fingertips. It was possible, to Ruby's mind anyway, that she could use her powers to take on Yang in a fight, and contain her explosive powers. That was just how strong Weiss was. The issue with it was...

The end of semester was basically a collection of events that Weiss's Trait was weak to. The pale skinned girl's power wasn't going to help her run fast. It wasn't going to help her throw a ball a long distance. It wasn't going to help her jump high. She could try, and she certainly had, and achieved some impressive results... But that wasn't what her Trait was designed for. It was why she only came in first place to Projectile Deflection, losing to her teammates in nearly every other event, sometimes surpassed by Ruby, other times, by Blake or by Yang. It was something her power was designed to be good at.

That was just how it was.

Although, looking at her now, her clothing and skin glazed with sparkling frost, and her right hand, arm, the hair on her fringe, and the scar over her eye completely encapsulated in ice, she looks like an ice based demon. She didn't look like Weiss Schnee at all. This looked like the true Ice Queen. The one that really did inhabit Weiss's heart. The one that team RWBY joked about, but genuinely feared.

This wasn't Weiss. This was someone who Weiss... Just wasn't.

"W-W-Wait Weiss! Th-This is crazy! Why do you want to fight me?!"

"I want to find out which of us is a better fighter. Which one of us has more skill. Which one of us is a stronger Hero."

"You're better!" Ruby responded without hesitation, and there was nothing in her voice to indicate that she was saying this out of fear, or pacifism. She was serious, and truly believed this. "You're more skilled than I am, and you have an amazing Trait! You keep telling me I have a long way to go, and you're right! I know I have a long way to go! That's why I keep training to get better! You're miles ahead of -"

"Shut up, Ruby!" Weiss snapped suddenly, shaking her head violently as she did so. There was something in her eyes, something angry. Something... Ruby didn't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't what she was used to seeing from Weiss. "If I actually believed that, do you think I would have brought us here, you idiot?"

"W-Weiss..." Ruby gulped, unable to understand what her friend was thinking. She didn't get it. She just didn't understand why Weiss was acting like this. Was it because she felt weaker?

Was it because she had had a bad day?

Was it because she was frustrated?

Was it because she was angry?

Was it because Ruby was getting better at fighting at a more and more rapid rate?

Was it because she wanted to become a better fighter?

Was it because she wanted to stay above Ruby?

Was it... Was it...

Was it because she just really hated Ruby?

The Schnee heiress had brought over out here knowing fully well that Ruby wouldn't be able to Teleport unless she knew her location within three miles, and that she wouldn't be able break through super-hard ice with Kinetic Speed. This had been planned, this wasn't impulsive. She had obviously thought about this before, and knew exactly what she would do if it ever came to this.

Why would she have thought about this before though? The question made the younger girl shiver. Not the cold.

Was is really that Weiss just hated her?

Ruby couldn't come up with any other reasons. She knew very well what she wanted though. And fighting Weiss wasn't anywhere on that list. It never had been, and it never would be.

"I - I don't want to fight you, Weiss!"

"Then dodge." Came her very quick, very simple response. As Weiss gave her curt response, more and more ice was beginning to form around her hands, now spreading to her left, and on the ground beneath her, forming what looked like crystals at her feet.

Before a single other word could be uttered between the two, the older girl attacked.

Using the ice she created as a spring, generating it rapidly beneath her feet at an angle, sending the energy through her body, Weiss launched herself towards her partner, preparing to throw a right hook, aiming to catch her blade of ice against the younger girls skin.

Ruby reacted as quickly as she could, Teleporting as far away from Weiss as she was capable of doing so. One of the few trees that was within the cube that Weiss had encased them in had a branch large enough to support a person's weight, even if it was covered in a frozen coat, so the Dual Trait user perched herself atop that.

Despite the fact Weiss had just attacked her, Ruby still was only half convinced that she was actually serious about this, or at least, desperately hoped she was. If Weiss was serious, then she would have been using her Traits fullest potential output to attack her. That gave her a bit of hope. The best thing she could do, she decided there and then, was to avoid the attacks. It shouldn't be that big a problem, since after all, her Traits gave her speed that was unparalleled.

After landing and turning around, Weiss launched another attack on Ruby, this time using her Trait at a long distance. Holding up a hand in Ruby's general direction, Weiss fired a frozen water vapour-like beam of ice towards the younger girl, with the intent of slowing down her movements by making her cold. While it moved quickly, it failed to work.

Long distance attacks were something that Ruby was an expert at dodging. She could see those coming from a mile away, and with her reaction time, avoiding them was no issue. Using Kinetic Speed, she leapt from the branch towards the side of the container before the white haired girl's attack even got halfway towards her. The location she was in before was costed in frost and ice as soon as it hit, but none of it hit the girl who was eagerly avoiding every attack.

Without a word, Weiss slammed her hand into the wall of ice too, and transmitted generated ice up and along its surface. The generation reached towards the surface

Ruby was currently clinging towards, freezing over her hands, and preparing to entrap her in a frozen case.

Teleporting out of that terrible situation, Ruby found herself on the direct opposite side of the cube to Weiss, and took the opportunity to get a good look at her. She was a beautiful girl normally, but in this moment, that beauty was being distorted by the growl and glare her icy blue eyes were shooting off her way.

"Weiss, that's enough!" Pleaded the reluctant younger girl. "Let's just stop this, okay? Please?" She could keep this up all night, without any problems whatsoever. Her desire to do so was another matter entirely.

Ignoring her, Weiss opened her right palm as wide as it would go, and unleashed another water vapour based attack, this time focusing on covering as wide an area as possible, while keeping Ruby in her line of sight.

It was a plan to funnel Ruby to her left side. It wouldn't even matter if Ruby knew. She wouldn't have a choice if she wanted to avoid the incoming attack. It was a win-win.

A huge cone of freezing water particles torrented towards Ruby, leaving her with no choice but to Teleport away if she intended to keep up this evading game. At the angles this attack was coming in, Weiss's blind spot had been to the left of her, so she Teleported there.

And was met by a consuming burst of fire.

The knock back from the flames was immense, as was the impact with which they had hit her with, not to mention the scorching heat that battered her, but she hadn't suffered a single burn. Part of that was her Hero costume, designed to be fireproof, a specification Weiss had requested all of Team RWBY make when they first submitted said costumes, due to this part of her own superpower.

Still, she knew how to hold back the impact, but she knew how to still make it hurt like hell. The strike hadn't been deadly by any means, and it had been a carefully placed hit, designed to slow Ruby down, and limit her ability to jump around the place. A strike to her stamina, to which both her Traits required in order to be used effectively.

Clutching onto her side, which right about now, felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, Ruby looked up at Weiss with wide eyes. Realisation came down on her like a brick hitting her in the face. She had been wrong. Weiss hadn't been half serious. She was completely serious about this fight. Enough to use her fire abilities, which she only ever used as a trump card, since she was aware of how dangerous they were. If she was using them against her partner... "You're... You're serious..."

Weiss Schnee - Trait - Thermo - Weiss has the ability to completely control temperature around her, allowing her to generate both ice and fire at will, as well as cold and heat. She does this by adjusting particles, either speeding them up, or slowing them down. She can use this at both long and short range, and transmit them via touch, or by firing them at targets. Weiss is also immune to the effects of fire and extreme cold. Essentially, this Trait gives her both Pyrokinesis and Cryokinesis. This Trait however, has multiple drawbacks. She cannot, for example, dual wield these abilities, but she is capable of rapidly switching between them. Overuse of using her powers to generate cold will give her frostbite, whereas using her fire abilities too much will give her heatstroke. She can however, use the opposing temperature to negate these drawbacks. However, due to a head injury that she has suffered, she has lost the ability to feel any of the effects of temperatures that she has generated, and can only tell if she is developing a drawback by her body's reactions to overuse. While this Trait is incredibly versatile and powerful, it comes with many risks to the user.

"I've been serious about this since the moment we started!" Weiss yelled, fire now completely consuming her left arm, up to her shoulder. The ice on her right was melting rapidly, sliding off the hydrophobic and fireproof clothing she wore. "You idiot, why aren't you fighting back?!"

Staggering back onto her feet, and meeting Weiss's glare, Ruby stared right back. Whenever Weiss used her fire abilities, it always meant she was going to be attacking her targets with renewed vigour. Blue eyes contrasted orange and red flames surrounding them. Ruby would always choose to fight Yang rather than a Weiss engulfed in flame. Every time.

Still, she didn't look away. She glared right back at her, and tried to understand... To figure out why her partner was acting this way.

And there was only one way she could do that... With a depressed sigh, she resigned herself.

Bringing her left arm up, Ruby looked briefly at the red gauntlet that was wrapped around her forearm. It was only slightly heavy when she paid attention to it, but she could swing it around very easily, having a series of muscles in her arms designed for control rather than pure power. A similar gauntlet was also around her right forearm, each one of them lined with mechanical juts and bumps, and spray painted on the side was her emblem, a rose, coloured silver. In the middle of this fine detail, was a pair of buttons on each side, one black, one red. The black would activate just the one pressed, whereas the red would activate both of them.

"...Okay Weiss." Ruby nodded, and pressed the red button. From the gauntlets, rose a pair of scythe blades that would reach up to her shoulders when her arms were by her sides. These were mechanical adjustments that she had requested, to be used as deadly weapons when dealing with Grimm or Villains. Weiss's fire was her sign of getting serious. This was Ruby's. "If fighting you is what it's gonna take to get you to calm down again... Then let's do it."

* * *

For maybe the seventh time since returning to their form room, Yang had attempted to get into contact with Ruby or Weiss, but neither one of them was answering their scrolls. Weiss's lack of one was explained - She'd left it in the room, underneath her bunk. So she couldn't have gone far. Yang's concern mostly was for Ruby. Normally, she wouldn't be too worried, but given how absolutely shattered her half-sister had been once they had returned to their rooms, it was cause for at least a little anxiety.

She was with Weiss, that much the brawler of the team was willing to put money on. The fact that Weiss's scroll was left behind was again, an indicator that they felt one between them was enough - For whatever reason. And that did reassure her a lot. Contrary to her cold and bossy personality, Yang knew Weiss meant well. Once she'd gotten to know her, it became very clear that Weiss had a bark far greater than her bite. She was a nice person underneath the layers of ice - Both literally and figuratively - That she covered herself with. Not to mention she was more than aware of how fond Ruby was of the pale skinned Thermo Trait user. The two would be fine.

All the same, a damn note wouldn't have gone amiss.

"Yang, relax." Blake said, peering at the blonde girl from over the pages of her book with a crooked eyebrow. "If Weiss left her scroll here, she won't have left Vale city, and Ruby's more than capable of looking after herself."

"Yeah, I know..." Yang admitted with a sigh, leaning back in her seat so her chair was balancing on just the two back legs. "Just thought Rubes would've been too tired to get going anywhere after today... Her being up and about has me a little on edge, y'know?"

The Faunus girl nodded, understanding why Yang was at least a bit worried. When it came to Ruby, she seemed to be at either a hundred, or at nothing at times. Energetic as she may be, she still got tired, like any other person. More so than any other person, actually, considering her Traits. The copious levels of stamina she had weren't anything to be laughed at, but once they were depleted, Ruby was pretty much out of it until she'd rested. She needed time to recharge.

"It takes a lot to get Ruby exhausted like that." Commented Blake, flipping another page in her book. "It'd take even more to get her to get her up and moving again after that."

"Exactly my point." A few tiny, inoffensive explosions sparked their way off of Yang's exposed forearms, a bad habit she had when she was bored. "Just wish she'd left me some kind of message just letting me know where she's going. Just to be safe, y'know?" Watching some of the crackles jump from her palms, Yang whistled a tune before adding on to her statement. "At least Weiss went with her. That's at least something I guess."

"If they _are_ together."

"Maybe they're on a date." Laughed Yang. "Maybe that'd explain why Ice Queen left her scroll behind. Damn though, if Ruby can pull Weiss out of that shell... Good work lil' sis..."

"Seriously?" Blake questioned, deadpanned.

"Hrmm?"

Yang tilted her seat further back, so she could get a closer look at Blake, albeit with her upside down from her perspective. The cat-like girl was staring at her with a blank look, which wasn't exactly easy to read - Not that she ever was easy to read in the first place.

"You honestly think they're going to be on a date?" She asked, looking unamused.

"Of course not. That was a joke." Yang grinned. "Ruby's gonna have to work pretty damn hard to convince Weiss to do something like that. You know what she's like."

"Did I miss out on some kind of announcement?" The Faunus girl looked thoroughly confused now, looking at Yang like she'd just tried to give out an apology with catnip and a litter tray filled with balls of string. "Is Ruby -"

"Is my sister into girls? Is that what you're about to ask me?" Yang kept her grin on her face all the while, amused by Blake's uncharacteristic lack of understanding. She adjusted her position on her chair so that now she was upright, and looked over at her partner. "Yes? No? Kind of... Ruby knows what she likes. That's probably the best way to put it."

That part, Blake understood. "And she likes Weiss? She's told you this?"

"I know my own sister." Yang stood up and stretched, feeling a click in her back as she did so. "Can't be sure, though I'd put money on it. Gotta be honest though, I'm gonna end up being pretty depressed if Ruby ends up with someone before I do. Never a good sign to lose to your little sister on that one."

The lack of understanding of the relationships between members of her own team was somewhat of a watershed moment for Blake. She wasn't sure if it was because she had been so distracted with the White Fang beforehand, if she'd just not paid enough attention or something else, but she normally was able to get a pretty good grasp on that sort of thing. She was perceptive in that regard and could normally see right through things like that without even meaning to.

Sun was about as difficult to read as a colouring book, for just an example. Whereas someone on her own team like Ruby should have been even easier, yet she'd missed out on the signs there, apparently. She had to wonder, was she just out of touch with her team?

"You'd think I would have caught onto something like that." She muttered.

"What're you talking about? It's not like it's uncommon." Yang replied, now stretching her arms, side to side. "Hey, if Weiss'd made Rubes happy, I'm-"

"Not what I meant." Sighed the Faunus girl. "Never-mind."

"You alright?"

"Just tired."

"Huh. I'm gonna head over to the training room. I need something to distract me. You wanna come with? Maybe a little combat'd wake you up."

"Still tired. I think I'll stay here. I'll let you know if they come back."

* * *

A burst of fire aimed at her, Ruby managed to leap out of the way with Kinetic Speed with relative ease, and enclose in on Weiss, with a right hook ready to strike. Normally, Ruby would have held back on using Kinetic Speed to boost her physical attacks against one of her friends, but it was clear Weiss wasn't going to be satisfied unless she really did go for it.

Rapidly changing the temperatures around her from hot to cold, an ice blade grew from Weiss's forearm again, compacted atomically to make it highly durable, and clashed with the sharp steel contraptions, meeting them point for point. A left, then a right, and then around and left again, Weiss was meeting each attack head on.

It was a downside to Ruby and how she fought in real combat -The younger girl's attacks were predictable. She relied on Teleporting and getting around her opponents guards, striking their most vulnerable points. It was a very practical and effective strategy against Grimm and third-rate Villains, not so much against people who knew her battling style, people who had decent reaction time and people who were expecting it. Weiss was all three.

It didn't matter how impressive her Dual Trait was. With such an easy-to-read battling style, it was about as difficult to hold one's own against her as it was to block incoming projectiles.

Blocking yet another strike, quickly Weiss used her free hand to generate heat and flame, swiping it in Ruby's direction, forcing the younger girl to back away, to get some distance from the attack. Using this moment as a chance to go on the offensive, Weiss used her pyrokinetic abilities to block off Ruby's escape routes.

The obvious response to that was for her to Teleport out of that terrible situation, into a marked zone that Weiss had planned out.

The area now engulfed in flames, Weiss created a spring-pad from ice again, and leaped high into the air, now generating two ice-spears in either hand to engage in hand to hand combat.

But Ruby never appeared.

Instead, Weiss fell to the ground and stumbled, perplexed as to where her target had gone. Not in the fire, that had already dispersed, and nowhere to be seen around her. Where had she -

"Hyaaa!"

Above!

Moving as fast as she could swing them, Weiss brought up her left spear to deflect the incoming attack, but this was cut cleanly in half by Ruby's right arm mounted blade, aided by her Speed and the force of gravity. As she fell further down, Ruby spun on her axis, and with her left fist, having gotten in close enough and having taken out Weiss's defences before she could react again, slammed a left back-fist strike into Weiss's face.

Once Ruby did manage to land a hit, it was often a very brutal one. Her muscles might have been developed to control two heavy mounted blades, but they certainly weren't hurting her ability to throw a punch. That combined with the speed she could move with, each attack she threw with her bare fists was like a rock. Her own body had adaptations to limit the level of recoil she suffered from her own attacks, but if she kept using them, she would end up having to deal with drawbacks.

Right now though, Weiss was the one staggering back. Landing on all fours, Ruby leaped with Kinetic Speed, tackling Weiss with her left shoulder, putting in as much force and transferring as much kinetic energy as she could manage. These were the first two attacks she'd managed to actually hit Weiss with - She'd needed to make them count.

The older girl felt the effects, with movement energy transferred into her body so rapidly, she was thrown off her feet and into the side of her self-contained prison, slamming into it with a loud thud, and cracks of the solid water around her. The impact hadn't been soft, and nor had Ruby's attacks.

Bouncing lightly back off the wall she had created, Weiss fell to her knees, one hand clutching onto her eye tightly, the other on the ground, gripping onto a shard of ice tightly. Her right hand, the one clutching said corresponding eye, was griped around her skull.

Red liquid began to seep through the fingers of the pale skinned girl, which stood out as brightly as one could expect. A pang of guilt hit Ruby, like a steel beam to the forehead. They were the only two attacks that she'd managed to land...

Removing her hand once the initial surge of pain was gone, Weiss looked back at

Ruby, determined as ever. Only now did Ruby see the full extent of her attack. Having used to much force so quickly against her older partner, and hitting her where she had done, she'd managed to re-open the scar that ran down Weiss's right eye, causing blood to poor and run down her face.

"W-Weiss! Are you alright?!" The younger girl completely forgot that they were supposed to be fighting when she saw the wound. The fight, it became irrelevant the second Weiss had gotten hurt like that. She Teleported right in front of her friend, trying to get a better look at the wound, to see if there was anything she could do. "Oh God, I-I'm so sorry, Weiss! I didn't mean to -"

"Get back!" Erupted the asymmetrical girl. Both her hands consumed in bright orange fire, Weiss attacked, forming an X shaped shield-stroke-spear as she performed two simultaneous uppercut attacks. Since the younger girl had the reaction time to get out of the way, Weiss's strikes missed, though she had some space to work with.

She'd done this before, so once again wouldn't be an issue. With a fine tune and a steady hand, Weiss brought her finger, now reaching burning temperatures, and with a quick motion, seared the wound on her eye shut. "Rrrrgh!" Pain quickly ensured, but it wasn't anything Weiss wasn't used to. She'd managed to withstand it when she'd first gotten the injury, she could withstand it now. It wasn't a perfect seal, but it would hold for the time being, acting like a scab.

"That's enough! Let's please stop now Weiss! You're hurt! We need to take you to see someone who can have a good look at it! If we don't stop, you'll just keep bleeding out!"

"Then I'm going to keep bleeding out." Switching to cold, Weiss unleashed another salvo of frozen water vapour towards the Dual Trait holder, this time in a narrower margin, prioritising speed over area coverage.

Ruby dodged the attack without much difficulty, using her speed to get out of the way before the attack came close to her. Quick as Weiss was able to freeze or burn and send those attacks away, Ruby was faster to move. Every time. It didn't matter which. Weiss would regularly swap which aspect of her Trait she was using to avoid drawbacks in this situation. It helped her prevent drawbacks from overusing one side of her powers too much. It helped keep her unpredictable as well. But Ruby was fast. She could evade.

Stubbornness was always a personality trait that Weiss had, but this seemed to be to an entirely other kettle of fish. This was stubbornness that bordered onto recklessness. Worse, stupidity. This entire fight was bordering into stupid! Ruby couldn't figure it out, not at all, why Weiss felt this need to prove she was above her in terms of pure power, or in skill, or in... Anything really. She already was!

They'd been dancing around in this fight for close to twenty minutes now, and Ruby still wasn't any closer to getting any answers. She was out of ideas to try, which was why she'd resigned herself to actually fighting her partner. She didn't want to... But how else?...

How had this situation even come about?

"I just don't understand! Why do you want to fight me?!" Ruby yelled, skidding around her opponent's side, and attempted to throw a right hook, which was met with a wall of fire. It came very close due to proximity, but Ruby Teleported away with minor scathes to her clothes. Once around behind Weiss, she attacked again, this time, a left reverse punch. "You never even told me why!"

Once again predicting her partners movements, Weiss had brought up her own arm, creating her ice wrist mounted blades, and blocked the attack, using Ruby's blade to catch her attach, stopping her fist from getting to her face.

"I already told you! If you're doing better than me in physical assessments, and you're the dolt of the team..." Using her other hand, Weiss threw another blade based attack. "...Then what does that make me?!"

Blocking with her other arm, and then pushing back the attacks, and charging in once again, Ruby retorted. "That's not a reason why! That's just self-doubt!"

Weiss blocked. "That self-doubt is why!" She then attacked again.

Ruby blocked. "No, it's not! Blake was at the bottom of our team overall, and you even came close to tying with Yang!" She then attacked. "If someone should be upset with their scores, it's not you!"

Yet again, another block. This time, neither one pushed away, pulled back, or attempted to block. This time, they locked eyes, Weiss's bloody eye closest to Ruby, bloody dripping onto her frozen weapon. "I'm not Blake!"

"But you're on my team! And I know you don't really believe any of this! I refuse to accept that Weiss!"

"You don't know -"

"Then tell me!"

Bursts of fire shot out from Weiss's person, catching Ruby by surprise. Only this time, the combination of heat and cold suddenly reacted, causing a huge explosion of steam to blast Ruby to the other side of the container, resembling levels of power akin to a grenade. The flame retardant clothing both wore protected them from the majority of the impact, as well as the durability both their Hero costumed had to have in order to suffice in regular Hero activities, but this was an interaction that hurt both of them.

When heat meets cold air in such a rapid rate, the heat expands and causes an explosion of steam. That force can be as strong as a standard hand grenade. Being so close to it was bound to cause serious damage, and it was this physics interaction that Weiss had made into one of her own special moves, utilising her Trait in a creative way to achieve massive damage.

The blast had mostly impacted Ruby, and she was sure that Weiss had used her heating powers with the intention of causing that explosion. That special move was one of the reasons why Ruby was convinced Weiss would give Yang a run for her money if they actually fought. With heat generated by her sister's explosions, and Weiss's ability to freeze the air around herself... She had the advantage. No questions asked. Not only that, but her ability to alter temperatures both hot and cold around her anyway?...

Weiss was powerful. No question. Easily, she was stronger than Ruby for these reasons. The Dual Trait girl would say it again and again and again. Because it was true.

But there was a reason she didn't use her steam explosion special move option often, and it was simple - It had recoil. Weiss's Trait was Thermo, and it gave her immunity to extreme temperatures - It wasn't built around keeping her body safe from explosions. The heat that such a blast didn't affect her, but the force certainly did.

She had a slight tolerance to it - In the same way one has a tolerance for pain, in that she was just used to it. It wasn't invulnerability to it. If her fire powers were her trump card, then Steam Explosion was her final stand.

Leaving her specifically styled hair in an undone mess, with blood and sweat running down the skin of the pale girl, Weiss looked like she'd had better days. She was still standing, but was wincing in mild pain, more self-inflicted than it was done by Ruby. Her special move at such close range often left her like this.

"You want to know why? Fine!" Through gritted teeth, Weiss yelled at Ruby, "I can't stand losing to you!"

"We aren't even competing! We're supposed to be -"

"You have this amazing gift, a Dual Trait - Do you even know how rare that is?! - While I had to work hard! Blake had to work hard! Yang had to work hard to get accepted into Beacon, and you were just given a place, just like that!" The frustrations seeped out, and Weiss found herself unable to stop talking even if she wanted to. "And all you've done here is just mess around and waste time! You barely pay attention in class, and I'm not convinced you're even capable of studying on your own! You're a klutz, an idiot, a dolt, and the idea of you actually beating me infuriates me to no end!"

If it weren't for the adrenaline surging through Ruby, that harsh reprimand might have seriously made her tear up. As it stood right now, Ruby was still hurt, but she wasn't taking it lying down. With all that running through her, the younger girl shouted a flurry of things she would have never said under other circumstances. Maybe they were the unconscious fears Ruby had. How she felt Weiss saw her. Or maybe it was just the adrenaline.

She didn't know herself anymore.

'If that's how you feel, then was all that talk about you thinking I had potential just a big fat lie?! All those times you've sat me down and gone over Oobleck's and Port's classes just you stroking your ego?! Every time you've helped me get better, is that just so you could knock me down when you felt ready?!"

"No! And that's the absolute worst part!" Came another yell from her partner. "You _do_ have potential! You can be a good leader! You do belong at Beacon! You've got all this incredible untapped power and abilities in you, and you don't do anything with them! You just - You waste it all away! Do you know what I would have done to have that level of potential when I was back at Atlas?! And you just waste it all!"

At this point, Ruby was just listening to Weiss's yelling and venting. She didn't interrupt, nor did she protest any of the accusations, partly because they were somewhat right, but mostly because she wanted to understand.

"And somehow, you got to be the leader of our team!" Weiss actually laughed at that sentence. "I thought I could get over it then, that maybe I was the one who had the wrong attitude about it once I actually stopped to think about it. Someone who has your sort of potential should have been leader - But what have you even done to justify that position?!"

"Is this all because you want to be Team RWBY's leader?"

"When you put your mind to it, you're a good leader!"

"Then what is it?!"

"I can't stand losing to someone who isn't even trying!" Weiss shrieked, her line finally snapped. "We all try our hardest until we collapse in agony, and you get through all of it without even trying! What the hell is even the point of us trying if you're going to skip and sing a song to all the cute boys and still do better than the rest of us?!" The impact of her recounting of those first few mocking conversations they had had didn't go amiss on the young girl.

Ruby's eyes widened. She understood now.

Frustration. That was all this was. Built up frustration from overthinking herself and doubting her own abilities.

Weiss was normally so calm and confident in everything that she did, but after seeing all the improvement Ruby had made since the last assessment... She was not only doubting her own abilities, underselling herself to the point that she deemed herself nearly worthless, but also had managed to convince herself that Ruby had just been idly killing time, not even showing off the fullest extent of what she could do.

This was all just...

Weiss looked up to Ruby and wanted to surpass her. And Ruby was the same. The only difference was... Weiss was driving herself crazy over it. Going insane over trying to become the best so she could redeem her family name.

And she was scared.

Scared that she'd never reach a point that she'd be able to do that because compared to Ruby, who from her perspective was just messing around, she felt so damn weak. Pathetic.

Insignificant.

"I... Weiss..." Ruby wasn't sure if she'd be able to use the words needed to express what she felt in this moment, to explain what she wanted to say to her friend. To reassure her. To explain.

Now breathing heavily through gritted teeth, Weiss's arms became engulfed in fire, creating a bellowing flame around her person, larger than Ruby had ever seen her create in her life, and far brighter and hotter than any Trait generated fire she'd witnessed in her life. Even Heroes didn't match the ferocious intensity of this blaze. Even her hair seemed to be participating in this inferno, surrounding the white girl in red and orange yet again.

Not another word said, Weiss lunged, launching this consuming flame towards the object of her frustration and anger, spreading it to cover as large an area as she possibly could, aiming to trap Ruby in a sea of heat. She didn't bother to hold back anymore. Full force went into this blast, assaulting the other side of the cube.

Such heat and anger fuelling her attack, Weiss completely disregarded her goal of keeping Ruby contained, using so much force and heat that she wound up melting one side of the ice prison. It happened in an instant, so quick that Weiss didn't have time to stop before a huge hole was formed in the wall.

"Crap!" She cursed, before the lack of support caused several other walls to collapse, and the roof fell apart too, into tiny sharps of ice, like snow.

Now the walls were gone, and she was nowhere to be seen, Weiss knew Ruby would have taken the chance to escape from the area. She snuffed out the flames around her, and sighed to herself in further frustration.

She had yelled it all out. Every bit of her frustration and anger, all the feelings of animosity and pent up fury that she'd not even realised that she'd had. They were all out, just gone, completely. Standing there, breathing and staring at the ground, Weiss seriously asked herself - Had she really just done all of that?

It was all said and done. It couldn't be taken back, and it couldn't be forgiven.

Her Trait was fully deactivated now, the last of the fire completely extinguished and the last of the ice melted, what little remaining scattered around the previous battlefield. Looking around, Weiss couldn't see Ruby. She'd left the area, she could now confirm.

She felt cold, and she shivered.

Feeling a small drop of blood run from her eye, Weiss used her left hand to wipe away the red liquid. The scar wasn't going to get any worse, so she didn't really care too much that Ruby had torn it open again. It getting caught and ripped open again was an inevitability. The sear that Weiss had done in improvisation wasn't going to hold...

But she didn't care right now. She was in a weird state of mind, unsure of what it was she felt or thought. Part of her felt empty nothingness, and she wasn't exactly a part of existence in this moment. Like she'd just watched it all take place on a TV screen. Another part or her felt some intense regret, and another part felt satisfaction. Another part anger, and yet another part sorrow.

She wasn't sure what she felt right now, but she couldn't blame Ruby for running away the second she'd gotten the chance. Brought out to a place she didn't know, and attacked by someone she was supposed to trust... Weiss probably would have done the same thing. She wouldn't be surprised if Yang did the same thing.

By now, Ruby would be back at Beacon, telling the rest of the team what had happened in some hysteric cries and half accurate explanations. Weiss was certain Yang would almost beat her within an inch of her life, and she wouldn't be able to blame her.

Did she regret what she'd just done? She didn't really know...

Her head suddenly shot right up and behind her when she heard leaves rustling. They weren't far out enough for the creatures of Grimm to show up, were they? There was something still around with her though, and with that knowledge, Thermo was activated again, this time, cold being Weiss's weapon of choice.

Within a second, something shot out of the surrounding vegetation, charging straight for the lone female Hero-in-Training at speeds that said girl couldn't track with her eyes. Reflexively jumping into a combat stance, Weiss prepared herself to engage in yet another fight.

She didn't expect to suddenly find herself being hugged by Ruby.

A lot less force had gone into this little 'attack', though it did cause some slight imbalance for a brief moment as Weiss suddenly had another person's entire weight to deal with being applied to her in less than a second. After a brief back-pedalling as she tried not to fall over onto the floor.

It took Weiss a few seconds to fully register what the heck was happening to her. Ruby was still here was the first thing that she noted, obviously surprised and taken aback by this mere fact in itself. Had she just been waiting, or planning to surprise her or something?

The next was what Ruby was doing to her. She'd slipped her arms underneath her own, one hand just above her waistline, and another roughly around her back shoulder blade. Her head was on Weiss's shoulder, resting itself there. She was hugging onto the Thermo Trait user tightly, her hands gripping onto her clothing tightly.

She was warm.

Weiss's instinctive reaction was to turn her entire body ice cold, as a sort of defensive mechanism. It didn't do anything to make Ruby let go, although she did seem to shiver a bit with that action. Weiss suddenly stopped when she realised that it was actually Ruby, and not some sort of blood loss induced hallucination. She tried to wriggle free, but Ruby was having none of it. She was gripped on tight, like a lock.

With no other options, Weiss asked, her voice wavering, "What - What are you doing, Ruby?"

"You're hurting. You needed a hug." The younger girl answered, hugging her partner tighter. "I... I think I understand now Weiss. Why you wanted to fight me. I... Think I get it.

"You..."

"Weiss... I do work hard. I train and train until it hurts, because you keep training until you can't even stand up... I'm not as strong as you, I know I'm not, but I want to be. I want to be stronger than you, so you'll try to be stronger than me, and then I'll try to be stronger than you again, we're partners - That's the only way we should be competing. Not... Like this."

"That's not -"

"You're going to redeem your family name, aren't you?"

Suddenly, Weiss's eyes were wide open, and tears were forming in her eyes. Ruby had figured it out after all. She'd seen through all that fury and anger?... How? How had she even been able to look past the colossal rage that had been accompanied with fire being shot directly at her, and see anything more than the witch wielding it?

"You're strong enough to do that Weiss. And I'll be there helping you when it's time to do that." Ruby said, hugging her partner even tighter.

They may not have been intended to, but the words hit the Schnee heiress deep. Shaking now, Weiss softly returned the hug, if only to help keep herself upright if she ended up collapsing. "That's... That's not your job to do..."

"So you can hire me to help you, and I won't charge you." Smiled the girl through her naturally red highlights, making sure Weiss could see the grin. "Then it will be my job to help you."

At that point, it became too much for Weiss to hold back. The water that had been welling up in her eyes finally fell free, running down her cheeks and into her partner's black and red clothing. Her knees did give out during this, and both girls fell onto the ground, Weiss to her knees. Tightly she returned the hug.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered, trying her best not to let her voice give away that she was crying, though she wound up failing miserably. Her head found its place in Ruby's shoulder, which she used to try to catch the tears before they'd even left her eyes. Ruby didn't mind. "I'm sorry..." All she could do was apologize, over and over for what she'd done. Bringing her out here just to attack her... All she could do was repeat a few words. "I'm so sorry..."

Ruby didn't mind at all. She just kept holding onto Weiss while she cried, doing what little she could to comfort her.

* * *

 _'They're back. Said that they went out for a walk. Ruby said Weiss wanted to talk to her about a few things. Didn't say what.'_ Blake finished typing, before hitting the send button on hr scroll and sending it off to Yang.

She looked over to her teammates, Weiss in particular looking especially pacified. She seemed remarkably calm, given her usual abrasive self, especially when it came to Ruby. Right now, she was being gentle with her, softly spoken. Like she'd done something horribly wrong.

Part of Blake was tempted to ask why in the hell both of them were in their Hero costumes… But she didn't. That was for them to know, and to tell her if they felt it best. Turning back to her scroll, Blake sent another message to her partner _. 'I don't think they went on a date.'_

The fight that they had just engaged in hadn't been mentioned by either of them, not to Blake anyway. Ruby had told her partner that she wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened if Weiss didn't want her to, and if she agreed to go see the school nurse to get her eye looked at. The scar would be slightly more obvious due to its injuries, but for the most part, it would be okay. Nothing that would cause any complications.

Sat on her bed, Weiss had a few moments to just contemplate the evening she had just had with Ruby, with a hot mug of tea said girl had made for her. It was a bit oversweet, making Weiss question just how many sugars had been put in, but it was okay.

How her partner had forgiven her was beyond her comprehension in itself… No, forgiving her implied that Ruby had held a grudge against her in the first place. She hadn't. She never had any grudge against Weiss… And that only made her feel worse.

The rare sight of Ruby without a cape came into sight as Ruby got rid of the accessory in preparation for changing from her Hero costume and into proper sleepwear, yawning loudly and using her mouth to cover up the action, albeit poorly.

A lot of the time, Ruby made no sense to Weiss, and how she was so casually calm about what had transpired between them – Weiss had hit her with literal fire and she had given her a hug five minutes later – Was yet another weird thing to add to the pile.

Still, she'd indulged Weiss in her violent request…

"…Hey, Ruby?"

"What's up, Weiss?"

"I uh… You… You complied with my request to… Talk." The Schnee girl played along with ruby's story given to Blake before she continued. "So… I owe you. If you've got some kind of request you need me for… Just tell me. I took up your time, so you take up mine, and we're even, okay?"

It made sense, and Ruby nodded almost immediately, already knowing exactly what it was that she was going to ask for. A wide grin made its way onto her face as she turned around to look at the suddenly worried pale skinned girl. "Well…"

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My main worry with this chapter is if I portrayed Blake well, because, uh, I'll let you in on a little secret - I absolutely /despise/ Blake. Volume 4 has not been good to her, and she's really digressed into full blown coward. That whole bow-hiding-her-Faunus-heritage-thing was bullshit in the first place, and now she's literally just turned into a massive coward. I could go on a full rant about that. Hell, JAUNE is outdoing her, and that should never be a sentence I have to utter. That being said, I'm not just going to treat her poorly in this situation. I'm a writer, so I'll do my best to portray her as best I can. I hope this came out well.
> 
> Despite my utter contempt for the cat girl, my reasoning with Ruby in this story is this - I honestly doubt she even understands the concept of an LGBT person. I'm pretty sure she'd know who she liked and wouldn't even take anything like gender into slight consideration. That's my take on her anyway. (Quietly chanting WhiteRose be cannon in the background).
> 
> While I'm on this subject - Bumbleby shippers might just wanna be aware, when I say background Bumbleby, I mean background. As in, don't expect a lot. I don't mind it, but again, aforementioned contempt for Blake kind of ruins it. Incidentally, I swear I haven't seen a single piece of work that depicts Yang being fully pissed off with Blake for running off - I really want those two to hate each other in volume 5, so they can rekindle their relationship over the volume. I feel Yang is completely justified in punching Blake in the face when they meet up again. Still, I'd prefer it to be canon than for it not to be, but they have got a rocky path ahead of them. just my opinion on it.
> 
> Well this segment went on a fair bit. All this aside, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next chapter ^_^


	4. A Lack Of Negativity

Shopping.

Ruby wanted to go on a day out shopping. That was her demand.

Weiss had attacked her, frozen and burned her, literally shot flames at her, and when given the total free reign to appropriately waste, or make an absolute hell, the equivalent amount of time, what did Ruby Rose say?

She wanted to spend said time as friends and partners, and to that vein, said they should go shopping. Just them, Blake and Yang not included, just the two of them. 'BFF's Day Out' as she'd put it.

Either that was Ruby trying to make the weirdest form of torture known to man, or she was legitimately this eager for Weiss and to go shopping with her.

The heiress to the world's largest supplier of Hero equipment wasn't going to lie - She was pretty gobsmacked about the logic being used here. She'd attacked Ruby with total intent to cause a serious fight between the two, out of pent up fury and frustration, two things that should never be expressed or felt between partners under any circumstances, and not only that, she'd actually hurt her too. Those attacks that she'd launched had been designed and calculated to cause bodily damage to Ruby, so she'd be less physically capable during their fight. She'd wanted to hurt her, fight her until one of them wasn't even able to stand up anymore.

Her use of her fire powers was proof enough of her animositic intent. It had been quite a while since she'd actually used it against a person. She was completely aware of how dangerous her flames were, so she restrained herself appropriately, so as not to cause collateral damage or harm anyone due to her own carelessness. She was a Schnee after all, she was expected to be able to maintain her own abilities, most of all her own Trait. She'd be the most unworthy heir in all of Remnant if she couldn't even control her own powers.

Of course, her injury that she had suffered meant that it was more difficult to control. Being unable to feel the temperatures generated around her, meant she was unable to feel them bouncing back towards her, which she relied on as a form of echolocation, to tell her when it was safe and when it wasn't to either press the attack, or bail out before she hurt someone she didn't mean to.

So every move she made, they were all intentional, deliberate and planned out for the effect that she desired. Every motion and discharge of her ice or her fire was calculated for the result that Weiss wanted. She didn't make mistakes in this regard. Her team knew this.

And Ruby's logic?

"Let's have some fun today, Weiss!" The hyper-energetic girl happily exclaimed, already skipping through the main district of the city of Vale, her red cape extruding about a good meter and a bit behind her. How she didn't trip over it constantly, Weiss really had no idea.

Still, the pale skinned Thermo user stood about three feet behind, still slightly daunted by how casually the other girl was brushing this off. She agreed to be here mostly because she had promised to be here, and felt guilty about the previous night, if not for those two reasons, she wouldn't have ever dreamt of coming here under these particular circumstances unless she desperately needed something from the stores there. She was here to keep her promise, a trait that she Schnee's were always supposed to uphold.

That didn't mean that she knew why Ruby was insisting on doing this today though. If it had been Weiss in the situation Ruby had been forced into, she would use the opportunity to enact some petty revenge. That was just how she was. Not Ruby though.

Her scar throbbed for a second in utter confusion and misunderstanding.

It didn't normally do this. This was thanks to Ruby's hit that had landed the previous night. Weiss brought up the corresponding hand and clutched it, hissing lightly at the unexpected flare. She'd felt it for a while after initially receiving the injury, but she'd gotten over it within a few weeks. With luck, this would be the same situation.

Still, she could feel the blood thumping through it rhythmically coinciding with her heartbeat. It would fade in a few seconds, she knew, since she knew what to expect from this sort of injury. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation. She'd felt it multiple times before in the past.

"Hey, you okay Weiss?" Ruby's voice came up again, expressing concern for her partner. In spite of the many hits to the back of the head Weiss had given her for doing so, she had used her Teleportation to double back next to her in an instant. Just such concern from her voice, Weiss wasn't able to understand why.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Just a pain." She responded quickly, looking away. How could Ruby feel that concern? After what she'd done...

She couldn't. There wasn't any way that she was able to.

"You sure? You did go see the doctors, right? You promised you - "

"Yes I'm sure, and yes I got the wound treated, you dolt!" Snapped Weiss. "You were there! You were the one who took me there!"

Ruby smirked and rolled her silver eyes. "Yeah... But it's not like it'd be weird if you just up and left when I went away."

"In what sane world would I do that while they were gluing my eye back together?"

"...To keep up the whole... Weiss... Thing?"

"...Inform me, Ruby, what exactly is my _'Weiss thing_ '?" The Schnee heiress folded her arms and shifted her weight onto her left leg, quirking an eyebrow upwards and glaring at her younger partner.

Looking like she was about to break into a fit of sweat, Ruby glanced left to right rapidly, like she was suddenly looking for an escape, by whatever means she had to use in order to escape Weiss's inevitable wrath. "Uh... Y'know, the Ice Queen deal."

Weiss twitched, still completely hating that nickname that she'd been bestowed by her team. She'd gotten better at hiding just the depths of her contempt for it, and gotten slightly more used to it, but she still truly despised it to no end. She came very close to growling, but stopped herself just before she did so.

Both of them then stared right at one another for a few seconds, neither saying a word, until Ruby suddenly found herself with the largest grin on her face, struggling to hold back the very clear laughter that she was desperate to let out. It didn't take her long to eventually just fail outright, and suddenly be reduced to tears from her constant giggles and guffaws.

It looked like her mouth had exploded from holding back an explosive when she finally gave in and began to laugh like a maniac. She wasn't quiet about it either, causing a small scene surrounding the two Huntresses-In-Training. Clutching her stomach and bent over like it was genuinely painful to laugh this much. "Bwa-ha-ha-ha!"

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, getting worried for her apparently now insane partner. For a moment, she was actually worried her attacks had made the younger girl hit her head or something.

"S-Sorry!" The giggling girl managed to get out in between her fits of laughter. "I-I was just... Th-This reminds me of the first time we met."

"The first time I met you, I nearly encased you in ice and fi -" Weiss caught herself before she finished, noticing the large grin on Ruby's face. "Okay, valid point, I suppose."

That had been an event and a half, Weiss thought to herself. Due to Ruby's Teleporting tendencies, the two had first met one another on the first day of the semester, before they had even been formed into teams, with the young Dual Trait user jumping all over Beacon, one location being right in front of an unsuspecting Schnee.

The end result of that had been a mountain of ice, and a sea of fire, shooting out due to complete and utter surprise.

Smirking, Ruby didn't show any sort of malice towards the conceding Schnee, before grabbing her wrist and dragging her down the streets with such force it threatened to knock Weiss over and drag her along, and leave scuff marks all along the ground beneath her. Thanks to her familiarity with how Ruby was prone to spontaneous acts like this, Weiss managed to re-acquire her composure and balance before this happened.

"So, where should we go first?" Ruby asked, energy clear in just her voice alone. Her head was turning from degree to degree, looking at every store in the near vicinity.

"How should I know? This was your idea."

A glare of fierce concentration appeared on Ruby's face, like all her brain cells were trying to decide the best course of action. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned around, eventually finding a through-the-window drinks service nearby. Good a place to start as any. "Hrrrmmm... You thirsty at all?"

Currently, it was a bit of a cold morning. No doubt it would heat up as Vale normally did this time of year. Weiss didn't particularly mind the cold so much, her Trait giving her a pretty good tolerance to temperatures around her as well, though it didn't do much for the slight sleepiness that she was dealing with right now. She'd only just gotten dressed before Ruby had Teleported them out of Beacon and declared their day out to have begun. She hadn't had time to grab her regular morning coffee.

"Well, yes. You dragged me out before I'd had the chance to have a drink this morning."

"You were being way too slow." Ruby's ever cheerful response came through, once again pulling Weiss over to the aforementioned stall she had noticed. Weiss still was surprised by the levels of physical strength that the younger girl seemed to possess, coupled with her endless enthusiasm. It was impressive, if nothing else.

Both of them purchased a beverage of their preference, Weiss going for the strongest and most caffeinated coffee she could, having a feeling she'd need the energy for the day. Ruby on the other hand predictably bought a hot cocoa, and filled said cup with about seven sugars. It amazed Weiss that she didn't have some type of diabetes yet, or gone into some kind of sugar induced coma.

The taste was enriching, and Weiss felt her eyes snap wide open as she ingested the liquid. Like liquid gold for the body. Energy forced itself into her veins, giving her the boost that she desired in a morning. It was exactly what she needed to face today.

"Blergh!" Ruby on the other hand, seemed less than pleased with her own drink. She's thrust it away from her at arm's length, and had stuck her tongue out, clearly none too happy with what she'd just drunk.

"You put far too much sugar in it." The elder girl lightly scolded, only quirking an eyebrow in her partners direction as a sign of her displeasure. She wondered if Ruby was ever going to learn this particular lesson.

"No, that's not it." Ruby argued, looking at her plastic cup and cardboard heat mask like there was some sort of riddle written on it in invisible ink. "It's freezing!"

The coffee Weiss had wasn't cold in any way. It had actually been pleasantly warm, not scolding so, but enough that when she let out a sigh after her first sip, condensed water vapour shot into the air from her lips. Wouldn't they be roughly the same heat if they came out at roughly the same time? All that had to be done when brewing was adding hot water, what was making Ruby's cold?

"Let me see." The Thermo Trait user ordered, holding out her hand to receive the drink. When Ruby passed it over, Weiss removed the heat mask from around the cup to discover that yes, the contents of what was inside were cold. Ruby mist not have noticed since the heat mask had prevented her from being able to tell before she took a mouthful.

Certainly odd, but nothing major to be concerned about.

"Just give me a moment." Using her Traits most basic function, Weiss begun to transmit heat into the plastic carefully, not enough that the cup would melt, but that the liquid would detect said heat and begin to warm up. It only took about fifteen seconds before it was done. A small trail of steam was being released from the lid, so it had reached a good point to decide that it was done.

Slipping the mask back on, Weiss held the beverage for Ruby to reclaim. "There. That should have fixed it."

Taking back her container, Ruby took a small, careful sip of the now warm drink. She was very gentle, so as not to end up scolding herself. Weiss may have done it a little bit too warm, but that was understandable, since she couldn't feel the effects of temperature from ones she herself had created or altered. It didn't matter too much. It would cool down.

"Thanks Weiss!" Chirped the younger girl, but with a very slight lisp to her voice. She had wound up slightly burning her lower lip, but it would wear off after a few moments.

The older girl blinked, and took another sip of her own warm drink. "So, what exactly are your plans for today?"

"I 'unno." Came the reply Weiss had practically predicted. "Just thought we could wander around, see what we find." Neither of the girls had really had the chance to just explore around the city as of late. To go to specific places and look around, yes, but not a full explore. Certain streets and alleys hadn't even been glanced at by the members of Team RWBY.

Then again, it was Ruby's call. Weiss had told her she intended to allow her to make up the time she had used up. She intended to keep that promise.

"Okay then. Lead the way I suppose." Weiss relented, slowing down her walking pace so Ruby would be ahead of her.

* * *

It was both simultaneously a very long, and very short day for the Schnee heiress. The time seemed to go quickly, but by the end of it, she'd never felt more tired in her entire life. It was a long day because of what it was.

Seldom was there any rhyme or reason to what either of them were even doing in the city, and Weiss was incapable of comprehending why Ruby even wanted to be out here like this with her. She had always attributed Ruby down to the usual childish careless, but it was almost worrying how quickly Ruby seemed to have forgotten that she'd basically been assaulted.

And was frequently asking the person who had assaulted her what she thought looked cute, showed interest in the few things that managed to catch Weiss's eye, and still treat her the same way that she always had done. It honestly only went further to making Weiss feeling guilty about what she'd done.

It was becoming clearer and clearer that Ruby didn't have a single antagonistic bone in her body, and Weiss couldn't decide if that made the younger girl more endearing, or all that more frustrating to deal with. Like she was some kind of saint, and that was what had led to many frustrations with her in the past. As time had gone on, Weiss had been able to release more of this frustration more and more, able to be more comfortable around her friend, but those feelings of animosity had still built up.

Which was one reason she'd attacked her, and the same reason why she wasn't actually hating this experience. Why she was actually – amazingly – enjoying it.

Now that the slowly building up negative emotions in Weiss had been released, now there was just the positive feelings towards her. It kind of felt like it had been some sort of negative restart. Every little gripe that she'd had with her junior teammate was out in the open now, vented and expelled from her. The guilt came from these feelings, and what she had done, but at the same time, it made this experience more enjoyable.

It was hard to explain.

It was an odd feeling for Weiss, but again, it wasn't a bad one at all. She'd surprised herself by catching herself smiling at the various quirks Ruby had, and the silly things that she did. Her constant Teleporting all over the place didn't even bother her right now, although she did wish she'd slow down before she ended up knocking some bystander over.

Still, a few things did make the white haired girl wonder.

"Hey, Ruby?" the heiress asked, turning to find the excitable girl with her face pressed up against glass that showcased a type of weapon used by Heroes in the field. Most specifically, it was a type of laser pointer used in recognisance missions. It would make sense for someone with Ruby's abilities to have one, but Ruby was looking out of obsession, not out of any desire to actually possess it.

Superpowers and weapons. That was what this girl was crazy over. Yang had told some… Certainly amusing stories about various times Ruby's interests had led to some comical situations.

Snapping her fingers to get her attention, Weiss called, a bit louder, "Ruby!"

"Kyaa!" Shooting straight up to attention, like someone had just poured ice cubes down her back, Ruby yelped and spun on her feet to look at her partner with an expression that showed shock and surprise. Most people wouldn't be too chocked, but when Ruby got interested in something, the rest of the world basically ceased to exist. Being thrown out of that was always a shock to the younger girl. "Y-Yes, Weiss? What's up?"

"There's something I don't quite understand from yesterday." In questioning her, Weiss brought her hand back up to her eye, pressing against the scar to ease some of the pain she felt already. "You said that I outdid you in all the events yesterday… But that's not what happened at all. You placed higher than me in a few of the events, and I only placed first in one."

For a few seconds, it didn't look like ruby understood what Weiss was saying. Thinking back to the previous night, she recalled the last bits of conversation that they'd had before they returned to Beacon. "Oh, I did say that, huh?" Ruby chuckled, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish grin. "I dunno, I guess I just meant that you seemed stronger than me was all."

"But you placed higher than I did in the assessment..."

"If we kept fighting like that, I'm pretty sure you'd've won." Ruby admitted. "I only got you like, once or twice. I only lasted because I kept dodging out of the way… That's not really saying much about my fighting abilities. And you had some awesome strategies and counters too. Your Trait is super awesome, letting you do all sorts like that. I'm jealous."

It only now occurred to Weiss how sincere Ruby was truly being. In the heat of a fight, it was easy to dismiss any arguments your opponents were making, but Ruby seemed to be truly genuine in everything that she was saying right now, when she stood not to gain anything from it.

What was it, Weiss wondered, that made her act this way? Was it just how she was? Atlas had never shown her any treatment like that before. Not in the Schnee manor. Everyone was always working at some angle, some sort of play to better their own profit. Ruby didn't seem to have that sort of agenda. It wasn't… Something Weiss was used to. It was that simple.

All this time in Beacon, and she still wasn't completely used to it yet.

"You're jealous?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "You've got a Dual Trait. Thermo isn't as rare an ability. There are lots of Fire Traits, and lots of Ice Traits too."

"Yeah, but both of mine are based on movement. They aren't _great_ in a fight." Explained Ruby. True, her mutation was incredibly rare, but that didn't mean it was all powerful. She had weaknesses with it too. Her lack of offensive abilities being the main one. It was why her Hero Costume was always outfitted with the wrist-mounted blades. "Your power lets you do anything with it!"

"Not anything." Weiss had her limits, just as everyone did. All Traits had limits and drawbacks. If Weiss wasn't careful, her own could be deadly to everyone around her.

"More than mine does. But… I think you're stronger than I am, Weiss. I really do think so. Even without your Trait."

* * *

Before Weiss had even realized it, the day was basically done. Both she and Ruby decided that it had been long enough to call it a day when they realized that it was 19:23, and they were still going around the city, like there was something else that they were looking for. Armed with a bag in each hand, Ruby had certainly made the day an air quotes productive one. Weiss hadn't purchased anything. There wasn't anything that she had really wanted, that she couldn't get with ease at any time, or already possessed back in Atlas.

She had enjoyed spending the day with her teammate though. That had been worth it in of itself.

They had been to practically every store near Beacon that they could possibly think of. Each and every one that was even on the map, practically, according to their scrolls. It amazed Weiss the sheer variety of shops that were on display, and found herself enamoured by the cultural diversity displayed by Vale, even in its day to day existence. All sorts of wares from Atlas to Vacuo were on offer. She couldn't imagine how much it cost a kingdom like this to import all those goods to be sold in their stores.

Atlas received all of them as well, naturally, but they had more than enough money to be able to sustain themselves on it. It was surprising to find out that Vale had this much wealth as well.

"Hey, are you going straight back to our room?" Ruby asked suddenly, once they reached the front door to the school.

"I imagine I will be. Aren't you?"

"I wanna go do some training for a bit. There's a few more things I wanna try and get better at."

"Do you want me to take your bags back to the room?" Offered the older girl. The training rooms were in the exact opposite direction to the dorm rooms, meaning that Ruby would have to double back. Weiss suspected that Ruby might have been subtly asking Weiss if she would take her belongings back to the room with her, or at least hinting at it.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Weiss smiled, opening up both her hands for Ruby to place the bags into. They were mildly heavy, filled up with goodies Weiss was certain Ruby didn't even need. About half the bag was probably filled with sweets of some description, another quarter probably books that she'd spied, and the final quarter filled with God knew what. Knowing Ruby, probably more sweets again.

"Thanks, Weiss!" Ruby chimed with a giant grin on her face. "I had a lot of fun!"

"I had a pleasant time as well." Weiss admitted with another soft smile. She found herself not particularly minding that she'd spent far longer than agreed on this excursion. It had been enjoyable, which was the most she could ask for.

"We should do it again – Only, y'know, with less fighting needed before we hang out!" The younger girl chimed, before bursting into rose petals as she Teleported away.

Weiss blinked _. 'Wait a second, she could have just Teleported back to the rooms and dropped off her own things instead of giving them to me!'_ The Schnee heiress huffed in her own thought process, before sighing lightly. It didn't matter that much in the end. Why Ruby had decided to do it in this manner confused the pale skinned girl, but it wasn't going to change the course of history.

It bothered Weiss more that she'd forgotten about Ruby's Teleporting for even just a brief second.

She made her way back to the dorm rooms with each of her hands holding a bag off the floor. It wasn't a lie, she had enjoyed herself today. It had been one of the few days she had actually just completely forgotten about studies and work and everything else, and just allowed herself to relax. It was more fun than she had ever expected to have when it came to Ruby.

Her offer to do that sort of thing again was one Weis thought she might actually take her up on, if they were both ahead of work. Knowing Ruby though, that was going to be an impossible task, but still, the thought was in her mind.

A few twists and turns later, and Weiss found herself outside the door of her teams dwellings. She quickly put one of the bags down, opened the door slightly, and then picked it back up. She then used her shoulder to shove the door open slowly, so if someone was stood behind it, she wouldn't end up hitting them accidentally.

"There you are." Blake was the first person Weiss saw when she entered the room, laid on her own bed, using her shadow manipulation ability to hold a book in the air to read while she was fiddling with her Hero costume in her hands. Perhaps a tear during practice earlier while she and Ruby were out. Weiss had no way of knowing.

Yang was also in the room, though her mouth was currently full of liquid, in her hand was a glass of water, and apparently she'd filled her mouth with far more than she could intake in one go. She had to just give Weiss a short wave as a greeting. Weiss just nodded in response.

With a final pull, Weiss managed to move the bags filled to the near brim with stuff to the bunk bed she and Ruby shared. She dropped both of them at the foot of the bottom bunk, which so happened to be hers, so Ruby would see it the second she walked in through the door, or Teleported in, whichever she chose. She let out a long sigh, and stretched.

"So, the date go well?" Blake asked, returning her gaze to her Hero costume.

Yang failed to hold back a spit take as she burst out laughing when Weiss literally erupted into flames.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'll level. I am fully aware this isn't the best thing I've written, but this was astonishingly difficult to do. I don't know what it was, but this was super tricky to do, so I've done the best I could. After this, I have some pretty neat ideas, including Hero names, Weiss's perspective, and Ruby especially, so I'm gonna have to ask you guys to bear with me on this one. I'll do better next time.
> 
>  
> 
> Regarding Bumbleby... Yeah, I'm not doing that anymore. I can't deal with it right now. This isn't turning into a ship war, but I am beyond confused with people regarding that ship. I find no appeal in it anymore, so I'm just staying clear away from it. Volume 4 killed that one for me. that's all I'm saying regarding it.
> 
> At any rate, I do hope you all managed to enjoy this... somehow! Next chapter will be a lot better, I promise ^_^


	5. Codenames

Despite the semester being over for the next week or so to prepare for the Vytal Festival, there were still important things going on, for the students of Beacon in particular. The days before the assessment had finished, the students had been asked to submit something that would help define them in the years to come.

Hero names.

Each Hero needed a codename in order to take a step into the world, to help identify them, tally their achievements, and even gauge their reputation. A Hero name was essentially this, a way to identify a Hero without giving away what their real identity was. Some valued privacy, while some were rather open about their civilian lives. It all came down to the individual, but as a general rule of thumb, Hero names were something that every Hero needed. At this point, it was more of a tradition than anything else.

Hero names worked by submitting a form of three names or more, with the one that you wanted to be known as marked as your preferred choice for a name, the other names being backups. If a Hero currently active, or active in the past shared a Hero name with you, then your second, third, fourth, etc. choices would be used and sent back to you, until you had one that was originally yours and yours alone. This was all done to prevent such issues as identity theft, miscommunication and misinterpretation. It just made the identification process that much easier.

Many people had been brainstorming their ideas for Hero names since childhood, when they decided that they wanted to use their Traits to learn to fight and to help the people around them. Or because they decided that they just wanted an excuse to use the powers they were born with. Far too many people for the worlds liking fell into the latter category. People who didn't really care about the people they fought for, but just wanted to show off their flashy Traits.

Regardless of all of this though, the Hero Names for the students attending Beacon came back just a day after Ruby and Weiss's day out, or 'date' as Blake – Blake, of all people – had so liberally put it. The day had been marked in Team RWBY's calendar as the one that all of them were looking forward to. Getting the names back for their identities as Heroes was always exciting. No matter what year a student was in, their age or anything else like that, their Hero Names were always something students found themselves hyped up for.

Yang and Ruby had shared their excitement for this very moment for the majority of their childhood – Now that they were finally getting their Hero Names sent back to them and confirmed, nothing was stopping the two most energetic and bombastic members of the team from hassling the two far more laid back members into getting the hell up, getting dressed and practically dragging them out the door to their room and to the main hall, where their names would be posted.

The elder of the two half-sisters had woken up the Faunus and Heiress up extremely abruptly, and in a completely Yang way – She'd unleashed a massive explosion, contained in her palms, making sure that it loud enough to resemble that of a landmine going off.

Both Weiss and Blake had woken up instantly. Weiss hadn't been particularly been happy about that, while Blake had been more resigned, at this point having come to expect this from her partner.

It wasn't until Weiss laid eyes on Ruby, already awake in her usual attire and smiling brightly, that she looked away and backed down. After last night, she found herself barely able to even look at the young team leader, opting to go to sleep far earlier than anyone else had done the second Ruby Teleported back into the room after her training.

That hadn't stopped her from laying under her covers, eyes very much wide open, and uncharacteristically aware of much Ruby was talking, where she was in relation to the supposedly unconscious Schnee, and what it was she was doing without even looking at her. Every move she made caused a small wave of air to go from her, bouncing off walls and expelling themselves throughout the room. Her own Superpower working against her, Weiss was able to use it almost like echolocation.

Whether she wanted it to work like that or not.

Even when Ruby had finally gone to sleep, Weiss had been way too aware of her breathing, and any other small noises, almost like chirps in some cases.

_ 'Thanks a lot, you two. _ ' She thought to herself, referring to Yang and Blake as her cheeks burned slightly. If Blake and Yang had just kept their mouths shut…

This wasn't like Weiss in any sort of circumstance, and not once before those two had even hinted at some sort of idea like that had Weiss ever noticed any of these things. Now she was noticing them when she didn't want to – It made no sense whatsoever. None!

And as it stood right now, being next to Ruby even walking down the corridors, when she wasn't even really paying attention to Weiss, was leaving her feeling flustered, a beating in her chest, and a redness to her cheeks. In an effort to calm herself, Weiss attempted to look in any other directions, relying on her knowledge of the layout of the school to get her to the main hall without issue. Preferably without walking straight into a wall in the process.

Having come from what was basically the single wealthiest family in all of Remnant, Weiss had spent the majority of her life alongside the social elite of Atlas. Expected to behave in a manner befitting someone who stood at the top of those elites, she'd been trained from the moment she knew how to speak how she had been supposed to interact with others around her. Keeping them at arm's length. Being cold and formal while at the same time, being polite and welcoming. Showing nothing, but getting everything that she wanted from just a few lines of dialogue. And she'd hated every second of what she'd been taught. Every absolute second, she had hated the life that had been set out for her.

That was what had drawn her to becoming a Hero in the first place. With a Trait like hers, even if she was expected to remain obedient like the good little dog she was essentially raised to be, people would always see her powers and say 'Wow, what an impressive power', or 'She would be an impressive Hero'.

It was why she had wanted to study at Beacon. Not only to get away from her father and his controlling ways, and because she had held absolutely no interest in joining the Atlas military in any capacity whatsoever, even if it was during her training to be a Hero, but because she did, in a sense, want to get rid of everything that had been drilled into her since the first words escaped her lungs.

This was all common knowledge. She'd made no secret of that to her team, once she had managed to get used to them and felt kinship with them. She'd declared her reasons for pursuing the field of Heroism and made it abundantly clear her goal of reforming her family's company and bringing their name back into the light.

Right now though, she was beginning to wonder if she had managed to remove the shackles of her upbringing entirely. Almost certainly not, she knew… But she was certain that she'd at least managed to get away from the worst of it. She had found herself being more able to confide in her emotions, if only to herself, and accept the things that she really wanted or felt.

But since Blake and Yang had, even fleetingly as it had been, remotely even implied anything to do with her and Ruby…

They couldn't know about their fight. Ruby wouldn't have told them, she had told Weiss she would keep it between them, and Weiss trusted her in that regard completely, and she knew for a fact that she hadn't told them. So there was no way for either of them to know the truth, that yesterday had just been Weiss's apology, in essence. To make up for essentially assaulting Ruby, and that Ruby had been the one to choose that the way she wanted Weiss to apologise was to spend time around her.

To an outside perspective… It _could_ look like a date. Not that Weiss had, even for the briefest of seconds, considered that to be the case.

Although, Yang and Blake had apparently decided that had been what had happened between the two of them. It had almost been expected from Yang, the way she was. If she had known, Weiss would have probably been expecting it, but Blake being the one to suggest it, that had been what had thrown Weiss off completely in that regard. Blake tended to keep to herself far more than the others, and any suspicions that she may have had usually remained in her head, contained within her brain and never left, unless she felt it vitally important that everyone know what was on her mind, or felt something was out of place.

Essentially, Blake wasn't one for gossip. That was the easiest way to put it.

So her suggesting it was a date before Yang had gotten the chance… Last night, that had made Weiss literally ignite into flames. And of course, Yang had attempted to put her out by throwing glasses of water on her – Which was not how her powers worked at all.

Shaking her head at the memories, Weiss tilted her head slightly back towards the group, to look at Ruby very fleetingly, before she shot her head away again, without any input from her brain. It was just the automatic response she had towards seeing Ruby right now. Her mind was racing, and her heart still pumping.

Perhaps she hadn't gotten rid of those Schnee restraints and instincts quite yet. The more she thought about it, the more she began to fear that subconsciously, she had been repressing certain things regarding her own personal feelings. It was a completely absurd notion. Utterly absurd. Other words to add on to the beginning of absurd to emphasise how absurd it was.

As if just a mere implication as enough to…

Weiss shook her head fiercely, feeling the hair she kept in a right ponytail hitting her shoulder as she did so. Before her damned injury, she could have used her Trait to cool her cheeks down, and help compose herself more. Reminded of her fight which resulted in the wound by her scar, Weiss thought back, wishing she'd been fast enough to avoid the strike that removed that particular ability of hers.

It would be helpful, especially right now.

Still, was it possible? Just the idea being planted into someone's head, was that enough to actually make the person in question seriously consider it…It was…

"…Absolutely asinine." She muttered as quietly as her voice would allow, forcing herself to come to her senses. She hadn't been completely aware that she'd muttered her thoughts aloud, but no one else picked up on it, thankfully, so she was in the clear.

For the second time today, she silently cursed at Blake and Yang. Mostly Yang, for the constant teasing and questions she'd had after Blake had asked, but she didn't exclude the Faunus girl from her damnnations. If they hadn't opened their mouths, she wouldn't be having these thoughts right now.

As one would expect for such a busy time, the main hall was packed full of first year Hero Course Students. Plenty of teams from inside the school were browsing the long list of holographic bulletin boards for their own names, and the name they had been given by the Hero board. A total of four blue holograms, complete with white text, all in capital letters and bold writing, gave the name of the student, their team, and their Hero name.

A few examples were available when Team RWBY entered the room and looked around. Up on the board, there were some students who were receiving their names already. Quartz Schwarz, Team QRTZ, Hero Name Decay. Midnight Star, Team name MTAL, Hero name Metalica. Apparently Jaune was up there as well, since his name was visible. His Hero name had come out as Crocea Mors.

Weiss had to groan at the sight of that. Jaune had literally chosen a Hero name that translated to Yellow Death?

"It's actually a lot calmer than I was expecting." Blake commented, looking around the place. She had expected to find up to about a hundred people crowded in here, pushing and shoving for their spaces in the lines to learn what their bestowed names were. Instead, the room totalled about twenty five or so.

"Told you getting here early was the right call." Yang told her, with a smug smile on her face, already making her way into one of the lines, the shortest she could see. The sooner they got to the front of the lines, the better.

Her team followed her, and found that they didn't have to wait particularly long. Everyone was of a very speedy mentality due to their apprehension regarding the names. Get into line, and get the name, and then they were done. That was all they were here for, so if they just did what the boards instructed, they wouldn't be waiting for more than a minute.

"Why won't the line go fasteeeer?" Ruby was already getting impatient though, switching from one foot to the other as a way for her to expel the energy she had pent up, building up from the excitement she was feeling right now.

Looking at the youngest member of the team, Weiss didn't feel any of the irritation that she knew she normally would from seeing this display. Normally she would have hit Ruby around the back of the head, or frozen her forehead, told her to be quiet and to be patient. She felt no urge to do either of these things.

Normally she'd tell her to stop making such an unsightly scene of herself… She felt nothing like that either.

She… Wasn't sure what it was she felt. It wasn't irritation, she knew that much.

"Excited, Rubes?" Questioned Yang, with a knowing smirk on her face. She knew that Ruby was just as excited as she was, and was having an even harder time of hiding that fact than the older girl was. Given the abysmal levels of energy that Ruby had on a regular day, it wasn't in the slightest bit surprising.

"I've been waiting for today for years, of course I am!"

"What names did you even put down?"

"Not telling!"

Unspoken a tradition as it was, many students opted to keep their Hero names a secret until the very last possible moment. It was from that moment that many people began to really feel like they were training to become Heroes, like they had wanted to their entire lives. This was the point at which a great number of new and exciting things would be happening within their lives, and it was almost like they were trying to put off those responsibilities until the last possible second. At the same time, it was a time of excitement as well, filled with eager students really to take the next stage of their lives.

This was a far more odd tradition than the concept of Hero names were in the first place. Still, many opted to follow through with it. Ruby apparently being one of those as well.

Weiss was doing the exact same thing, and she had managed to get her place just behind Yang, making her the second member of the Team would have their Hero name revealed to everyone.

It was exciting as it was daunting.

In truth, Weiss had known what Hero name she wanted since she had first gone down this path. She'd had it planned out for years, and she had researched, and was confident that no other Hero had used the name before her. She had appropriate back-ups, of course she did, but she was calm and collected regarding the suspicion many had their first choice of Hero names was going to be taken before they got the chance to have them themselves.

Those thoughts weren't the ones that were going through Weiss' head right now. Try as she might, those damned implications from Blake and Yang were still finding their way into her head, and she couldn't be doing more to try and stop having those thoughts!

Though she would never openly admit it, she was fond of Ruby. She had come to appreciate her and her optimistic ways, even if she did irritate her frequently. Build up over time had caused her to develop a distaste for the girl, but now that it was gone, it was easy for Weiss to be honest with the feelings she had.

Ruby was her friend. She was very open about thinking that way. She was glad that Ruby was her friend. She enjoyed having her around.

Not what the other two had been suggesting. That wasn't what had happened.

It wasn't.

It wasn't!

"Weiss?"

How many times she was going to be thrown out of her thoughts, Weiss had to wonder to herself before turning her head to face Ruby and Blake, both of which were pointing towards the holographic board, indicating it was Weiss' turn to discover her Hero name. How fast had the line gone? It barely even seemed like sixty seconds had passed. Had she been so deep in thought that she'd just completely blacked out the rest of existence from around her?

She was thinking way too hard about this. She'd missed what Yang's Hero name was going to be. She was going to have to ask. And she could already tell that Yang was going to make it as awkward as possible for her.

Before she wound up wasting any more time, Weiss quickly made her step towards the holographic billboard, quickly shooting off an apology to her teammates for the hold up. Identification was a very quick, and easy process, given the technology. A retina scan and a password, and it was all done, and the retina itself was done in about three seconds with the Atlesian tech that Beacon had imported.

Password was Schnee Weiss – It was just her name done in reverse. Easy to remember and it seemed unlikely that anyone would guess that. It had worked for her so far, so Weiss saw no need to change it now.

Pushing aside all the password and identification details to the side like they were forgotten trash mere seconds after they showed up, Weiss's profile, and her Hero name were shot right to the top of the billboard. From her perspective, Weiss needed to take a step back, so she could clearly read the name she had gotten.

She couldn't help but smile. Her first choice was, as predicted, the one she was granted.

Myrtenaster.

* * *

 Yang had chosen the Hero name Ember Celica, which seemed very appropriate to the rest of her teammates. It was better than the guess Ruby had apparently had, which had been ‘Explodey Mc-Boom-Boom’, which also would have been appropriate, Weiss felt. Regardless, Yang’s Hero name suited her very well. It sounded energetic, felt powerful, and it complimented her Explosive Impact Trait. Punchy and memorable.

Blake had chosen something that had an entirely different feel to it, meanwhile. Completely different to either Yang or to Weiss’. Gambol Shroud, which seemed to convey an air of darkness to it. Like the name of someone from the shadows, an assassin, waiting to leap out and strike.

Which was pretty much the exact image of a Hero Blake was going for. Her Trait was far more useful when launching sneak attacks and using flanking manoeuvres to between an opponents’ guard and strike their weak spot with ruthless precision. It fitted her Hero name well.

Ruby’s was one that didn’t seem to make a ton of sense.

It didn’t necessarily reflect her powers, like Blake, nor did it feel powerful and fitting, like Yang’s. It didn’t seem to be something that someone would have spent years planning out and thinking about. It almost seemed generic, given her Hero costumes colour scheme, and her last name.

Crescent Rose.

Perhaps it was intended to be symbolic in some sort of way, or perhaps she just liked the simplicity of the name. Her entire team didn’t honestly know. Yang had asked about it when the team had gotten back to their room, about why she had chosen the name, but Ruby had informed her that it was a secret, completely to be kept to herself. She then proceeded to Teleport away from the room, without another word.

While that was a mystery in itself, there was something else that came up, about an hour later.

During the downtime, Weiss had decided to attempt to distract herself from all these thoughts that she’d been having, regarding Ruby, her family, and everything else, but throwing herself back into her studies. A nice, boring book about the ethics of Heroism, something she could divert all her brain cells towards, and focus on without allowing her mind to falter in any way, was exactly what she felt she needed right now.

There was a certain level of relaxation that she felt when she studied. It was a time when everything just slowed down for her, and she could begin to process things at her own pace. She typically enjoyed the peace and quiet in particular, finding it to be the perfect grounds for any arithmetic and logistical thinking her work would require her to do.

Even going as far as to smile throughout the entirety of the hour, humming without even noticing it as she wrote up answers and notes with her left hand, and flipping through pages absently with her right to acquire the information she needed, , it felt like the first time in the last few days where she felt actually at peace. Where she didn’t have to worry about the things going on around her for the time being. No anger or frustration, nor heartbeats nor concern. Stress was removed from her for just a few, glorious moments.

It felt nice to just be able to relax.

That was until, some sort of blackness appeared on her pages.

The first instinct Weiss had was to scream in surprise at whatever the hell was now crawling its way onto her textbook, or to smack it with the nearest object to hand, or, the one she would have done if given a few more seconds, set the entire textbook on fire, and deal with whatever consequences would need to be faced later on.

Then her rationality set in. It was just Blake’s Trait.

Along with being able to generate darkness, Shadows was an interesting Trait due to the accuracy that it could permit. With a Trait like Yang’s or Weiss’, their powers were extraordinarily devastating under the correct conditions. Yang’s ability to create Explosions, and Weis’ ability to completely alter the temperature, both had the capability of levelling entire buildings without any difficulty, should the need arise. But these came with a cost.

They weren’t entirely accurate.

Yang had far better accuracy than Weiss did. Explosive Impact required her to be in close-quarters in order to engage her enemies, but her overall radius was use, essentially three-hundred-sixty degrees all around her, horizontally and vertically. A sphere around her was in danger, and if she changed the output levels, it could become utterly devastating, almost like a bomb had gone off from her person. But she could at least limit the accuracy.

Weiss on the other hand, she had to be careful. Sure, she could generate both ice and fire, but she was limited as to their exact locations. She didn’t possess Pyrokinesis, so she couldn’t move or manipulate the fire after she had unleashed it, only could she increase the temperature, the level of flames, or just snuff them out. Once they were sent off, they were beyond her control, unless she made contact with them again. The same with her Ice powers. She couldn’t just create ice wherever she wanted. In order to create ice on a surface, she had to be making contact with that surface so she could adjust its temperature, and even then, it took serious care to make the ice appear how she wanted it to. It was easier to do it than it was with fire, but she still struggled.

Blake’s Trait was nothing like that at all. It completely required her to be accurate and precise, which was she was going for the Hero style she was. Along with this, it also required her to have fantastic special surroundings, and to be able to send her Shadows a large distance. She could do all of this with practice, but it also gave her more subtle uses.

Such as, sending a message, using her shadows as ink, to inform her teammates on something when she could be, at her last check, half a mile away from them. It was an impressive, creative use of a Trait that none of her teammates had thought about.

Calming herself down from the initial shock, Weiss watched as the shadows from her teammates Trait began to form into words, Blake instinctively knowing where her shadows were located – Telepathically, she claimed – and where it would be best to convey the message. Almost like her shadows had eyes of their own.

‘Go to the Cliffside as soon as you can. I’ve heard something worrying.’ Was all the message said. After about a minute, it slipped away, and became non-existent.

Cryptic as always. Apparently no one in this entire school could just blatantly explain anything. Weiss sighed. There went her stress free day.

* * *

 The Cliffside, where all the students had once been launched into the Emerald Forest upon their arrival and initiation at the school for Heroes, nowadays, was rather secluded the spot. With very little to do outside of preparing for the initiation and actually going for the initiation itself, there was next to no reason to come here unless you liked the peace, quiet, serenity, and occasional death cry from some of the Grimm inside the forest below.

It wasn’t exactly the best place in the world to going and hang out at, since there was sweet nothing whatsoever to actually do there, but the place did serve a few good purposes. For example, it was a fantastic place for a secret meeting, when you didn’t want to risk anyone else overhearing you.

When Weiss arrived, Yang and Ruby were already there, having arrived just a few moments before she had gotten there. Admittedly, she hadn’t been in the biggest rush in the world. Embittered that her preoccupied mind and state had just been shattered, she hadn’t made any particular effort to get over to the location Blake had specified at speed.

She regretted doing so about thirty seconds into what Blake had to say.

“Primals working for the White Fang?”

Blake nodded, and looked uneasy for a moment, her bow twitching as her cat ears must have lowered in both worry and concern. Given her previous ties to the organization, it was understandable. “That’s what I heard, yes.”

The White Fang was a pro-Faunus organization – Not one that even spoke for Abnormals or Primals. They were anti-Human, and as far as they were concerned, the other two didn't exist, unless they decided that they wanted to start a fight with their organization. To that end, the majority of the Primals and Abnormlas had remained neutral in the conflict, though exceptions rose. Ultimately, the White Fang couldn’t target Primals specifically, not could the exclude them, so life had gone on as it normally would have done anyway, even if the two species didn’t exist.

But there was a rule that Blake had mentioned that she recalled during her time there. Only Faunus were allowed to join the White Fang, and Primals and Abnormals weren’t welcome. Humans weren’t either, that much was a given… though with Roman Torchwick having worked for them now, that rule didn’t seem set in stone. It justified the worry Blake had. If Humans were now viable to join the White Fang, who else would join the organization?

Perhaps they had opened up, branched out. Recruiting people from unlikely sources in order to expand their influence. Had Torchwicks arrest got them running scared, desperate? These seemed to be reasonable conclusions…

“How’d you even hear about that? That’s not exactly something that you hear just out of nowhere.” Yang questioned her partner, folding her arms and taking a more serious tone for a few moments while the group tried to uncover the information given to them.

“They were talking about it near the training grounds. A few students from Mistral, they mentioned something about a deal with the White Fang.” Looking each of her ally’s right in the eye, Blake tried to convey just how serious she was. “They were Primals. There’s no mistaking it.”

“Wait, they’re students?!” Ruby asked, surprised at the accusation, and Weiss found herself agreeing with the reaction wholeheartedly! “As in, students who came here for the Vytal Festival, like Sun and Neptune?!”

Nodding, Blake confirmed all of this. “That’s right. That’s why I didn’t want to say anything while inside Beacon. We don’t know what sort of Primality’s they have. One of them could have Mind Reading for all we know, and I didn’t want to take that risk.”

The White Fang was recruiting students… Of course they were. They didn’t really care who they were recruiting, as long as they weren’t Human, and who would suspect students, realistically? Students attending Hero Academies at that!

That raised a thousand questions in of itself, such as if they were converted to join the White Fang’s side, a type of Mind Control Trait or power, had they been bribed with monetary compensation, or had this been the plan of a select group for a long time, to attempt this whenever they got the opportunity? Theory upon theory existed, each one of the members of Team RWBY coming up with their own conclusions.

Theory crafting wasn’t going to get anyone anywhere though.

“You want to go after them, don’t you Blake?” Weiss asked, looking over to her Faunus friend.

All Blake needed to do was nod. The group had taken on dangerous Vigilante-esq tasks like this before, and with a threat literally inside Beacon right now, there was no doubt that they were going to have to do so again. Even if Blake had refused, Yang or Ruby would have said that they needed to do something. With criminal activity always ongoing in this dangerous world of bloody evolution and Traits, the last thing anyone of them wanted was White Fang near their school, let alone within their walls.

But they all knew that they couldn’t just run and tell Ozpin or any of their staff that. Without evidence, that would only look like they were trying to cause trouble for their fellow Hero Academy students from across the continent. And that would only alert the Primals that they were onto them. These words didn’t need to be spoken between team RWBY’s members. They had done this before. They already knew.

So, there was only one thing for it then.  

“Team RWBY’s going hunting!” Ruby cheerfully declared, pumping her fists into the air, way too excited for someone who had just decided on behalf of her team that they were going to hunt down student terrorists.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  Would have liked to get more into this chapter, but I had to re-write it from scratch three times, and I like to keep to me bi-weekly schedule. Turns out, working on seven stories at once with an idea for an additional three isn't great for either my work ethic or my sanity - I have the OPPOSITE issue of writers block. I have too many ideas. 
> 
> Now, this is more of a set up chapter more than anything. I like the idea of their Hero names being their weapon names, that was always the plan, but I need this chapter more as a staging platform for the rest of the story. Primals will be looked into in greater detail because of this chapter, so it should explain clearly what they are. I think the idea I have for them is a good one, and especially due to some...  Developments regarding certain characters.  (If you bastards at RoosterTeeth like being ominous, I'll be ominous myself.) 
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry there wasn't too much dialogue to work with, but I promise, I do have this all planned. Certain issues are going to be addressed in the next few chapters. Get hyped ^_^ Hope you enjoyed, and see you guys later! 


	6. Red Versus White

Today was a Thursday, and the deal Blake had spoken of was, according to what she claimed to have heard, planned to go down on the upcoming Saturday. Two days to prepare were what Team RWBY had to work with, all while trying to avoid looking suspicious to any Primals that might be around. While Blake said that she'd seen the markings on the arms of the individuals, identifying them all as Primals, she hadn't been able to make out too many distinguishing features regarding their enemies. She claimed one had rustic copper coloured hair, and another seemed to have a second thumb paralleling the one most people had on each of his hands, in addition to the default one.

Otherwise, they were totally in the dark. The good thing about that however, it meant that it was impossible to feel nervous around their targets, since they had no idea who those targets were. However, as a safety precaution, the team had agreed that, until the upcoming Saturday, they should stay in, at the bare minimum, groups of two, to back each other up if something went wrong, or they were attacked. It made the most sense for partners to stick together, so Ruby and Weiss were assigned to stick to one another like glue, as were Yang to Blake.

About this arrangement, Ruby couldn't be happier. Weiss on the other hand... Didn't seem to be doing too good. At least, not from Ruby's point of view.

"You okay, Weiss?" The young team leader asked her partner, looking over in her direction to search for an expression or something that would help her at least guess as to what her ailment was.

Weiss had been quiet since the teams had been decided, not really speaking a great deal, and when she did speak, her sentences were short, concise, and to the point. While it might have looked like this was typical Weiss, Ruby was able to detect something that no one else could.

There wasn't any malice to her words. Before, there had been venom, snappiness, and a degree of cold sarcasm that almost felt like a needle when it reach anyone else except her friends' eardrums, but there wasn't any of that right now. She was answering in the way someone normally would do. It was... UnWeisslike.

"Hrmm? I'm fine, thanks." Even her acknowledgement, denial of there being some type of issue didn't feel like it was coming from the mouth of the same person. Like someone had just replaced Weiss in her head. Either that, or something was very, very wrong. Or something had changed very dramatically. Which it was was still up in the air.

As team leader, Ruby was supposed to be in charge of her team’s wellbeing, inside and outside of combat, both emotionally as well as any physical injuries that required attention. Her natural empathy and loyalty to her friends made her well suited to this role, and for the most part, her team would agree that she was a good choice for the position. Weiss had disagreed initially, but had come around after a short while. That had made Ruby happy, when Weiss had told her she believed she had the capacity to become a good leader, to be a good Hero.

It had been that which had sparked the whole spiral Ruby had fallen into when it came to her heiress partner. After that, Ruby hadn't been able to honestly look at her partner in the same way again. Abrasive or not, strict or yelling at her for being a klutz, dolt, or whatever the heck it was she felt like, Ruby rarely, if ever, took it personally. She knew this was just the way Weiss was, and that this was what she had to expect from her.

It was cute, to a degree.

The second Ruby had first thought that, it had been all over. Whatever part of her that had been resisting those thoughts, those feelings towards Weiss, it broke down, never to be seen again. It wasn't until that barrier was shattered that she realised that it had ever been there in the first place, but the second it was gone, Ruby knew exactly what it was she felt.

Of course, there was no way she could just come out and say it to Weiss. The absolute last thing that she wanted was for Weiss to think she was some sort of weirdo or pervert, or just someone interested in using her for the Schnee name. There wasn't any doubt that Weiss would think that. She'd dealt with thousands of people, and a few at Beacon, who had tried similar things with her, so it was only natural that her guard was always up. Love, it seemed, was something she had resigned herself to avoiding, at least from an outsiders perspective. But on a more emotional level...

She couldn't stand the idea of Weiss hating her. Based on reality, what she knew about Weiss, or her own irrationality, Ruby couldn't tell, but the fear that gripped her heart every time she even thought about telling Weiss how much she meant to her was way too much for her to even consider it. Everything else was a cakewalk, but that was the one thing Ruby couldn't stand the idea of. Her openness and casual friendliness that bordered on the naive end of the scale never changed towards her crush, and she had no problems being alongside her.

The one time she thought she'd been faced with this cruel reality had terrified her. She had been very scared when Weiss had declared her desire to fight her. It made her think, for the briefest few moments, that she'd crossed a line that had tipped Weiss to the point of despising her, and she felt nothing more painful than that in her life... To find out it had been an expulsion of built up frustration... That had been slightly better, but she still felt bad for having stressed Weiss to that point. Of course, she would feel terrible about stressing anyone to that point, but she felt especially bad for it having been Weiss she'd driven to the realms of anger.

Mere partnership, friendship, and perhaps the best case, platonic... Just being able to be close to her. That was enough for Ruby. It was far better than the alternative. She had to laugh whenever she thought about it though. She could beat Villains and Grimm down with about as much trouble as she would have swatting a fly, with about as much care, but with the idea of telling Weiss she had a crush on her? That was what sent her into fits of shaking, blushes and fear?

That all being said, that didn't stop Ruby from worrying about the older girl, especially now. Small things of note, from how her normally brisk walk was now more relaxed, and her head tilted to the ground at a slightly lower angle, all these things came into Ruby's mind when she looked at the girl right now. It all indicated that something was wrong.

Perhaps worry regarding studies of some description? That would make sense, were it not for the fact that Ruby had never once seen Weiss stressed about her academia. Far better than herself in that regard, Weiss stayed on top of her studies to avoid such stress, coupled with her studious work ethic... It didn't seem likely. The Vigilante mission? That seemed more likely. Vigilantism was, of course, illegal, so it made sense that she would be concerned about that, but they'd done this sort of thing before, and she'd shown none of the worry back then, and that had involved a giant mech obliterating the motorway, so it couldn't be that.

If the prospect of fighting another giant mech wasn't causing her worry, then there had to be something else major going on.

Daring to press her luck, Ruby asked again. "Are you sure? You're acting kinda... UnWeissy."

"So I'm not being a total bitch?"

"That's - That's not what I said!" Gasped a surprised Ruby, unsure of if she was more surprised that Weiss was swearing when she made a conscious effort to avoid using foul language, or if she was aware of how she could be perceived at times.

Sighing lightly, Weiss looked at Ruby, a soft expression on her face in place of where a normally furious one would be. A smile on her lips was enough to make Ruby's heart go insane, particularly when it was directed towards her. "I'm okay, Ruby. I appreciate the concern, but I'm alright."

"Uh, o-okay!" Nodded the younger girl, using her natural red highlights to hide the blush that was creeping into her face without Weiss seeing it.

This... This was a weird sensation. This somehow felt like Weiss entirely, like she was being totally genuine, but at the same time, it was nothing like what Ruby had grown accustomed to. It was throwing her off guard, messing with her head. Where had the snappy remark been, that made Weiss seem more like an Ursa than it did an Atlesian upper-class-women? Where had the name calling gone, insults like dolt or runt or crater-face or whatever Weiss had in mind for her?

It was like... It had all been blasted out of her system. It didn't make sense. Only a short while ago had she spoken to Ruby like she had always done... On their day out, or as Ruby liked to call it, their 'Date', she had acted the same as always, cold, but she'd been friendlier during that entire day, possibly out of her unnecessarily felt guilt.

What was happening?

Was it just a case of her partner having mellowed the holy hell out recently? Was she just relaxed right now? Was she forcing it, because she felt bad about what had happened between the two of them? Another four or five theories ran through Ruby's head, but she was unsure of which she should put as the most likely candidates for accuracy and likeliness. With Weiss in particular, it was always hard to tell. No amounts of observation was going to tell anyone otherwise.

Besides, there was something else Ruby was curious about, and it looped back into what it was that she was thinking about, regarding their fight.

"Do you... Feel better?" She suddenly questioned. When Weiss gave her a funny look, she elaborated further. "About yourself - The fight I mean. I know I keep bringing it up and all, but I just wanted to make sure..."

"...I do." Weiss nodded. "I feel much better about everything." Voice filled with sincerity, there wasn't any doubt that she was telling the truth, at least not in Ruby's mind. "I feel far better after I got everything vented out. Are you concerned I'm still angry with you? I'm not, if that’s what you're worried about."

That was a huge sigh of relief for Ruby. Regardless of everything that had gone down, hearing that Weiss felt better, that she was okay and now, now that everything had died down and their conflict was over, she no longer felt the frustration or anger towards her. She believed Weiss, seeing no reason for her to be lying.

Although, she wasn't sure if her answer made this easier or harder to ask for.

"If that’s the case... I've got a request. Feel free to say no, it’s not a problem, but I just wanted to see if you'd be willing..." Ruby stopped herself, questioning, was this alright? Was it ethical, or even remotely okay? Just when she seemed to be feeling better... Could this reopen her wounds, in a sense? Could it cause friction between the two of them again?

Then again, it was something Ruby thought was actually important, especially with the upcoming mission. It was what they needed to gauge, and be certain of before they got involved in fighting any Primals, or White Fang members again. From a cold strategic stance, it was important to know.

From an emotional stand, it might help Weiss to know.

"Willing?"

"...I want a rematch."

Silence fell down between the two of them, and they both stopped walking. Weiss locked eyes with Ruby, who felt tempted to tear her gaze from the pale girl, but couldn't. This was something Ruby had been thinking about, even during their day out, and had considered asking Weiss if she wanted to have a rematch then.

The truth was, Ruby hadn't even particularly fought Weiss during that battle. She had been so caught off guard, so unprepared and so totally surprised by the entire escapade, the only thing she had been capable of doing was dodging and unleashing small retaliatory strikes, ones that wouldn't have caused much damage, but were mostly there just so that she could wear her opponent down if the fight had dragged on.

She'd been holding back. She hadn't actually really fought Weiss. And was it possible that maybe, Weiss still, deep down, worried about this result? Ruby knew that she herself was curious to know the end result, but more practically, knowledge of who was strongest between the two of them could be valuable information for the team to know.

It would be good practice. It would ease any curiosity or fear that still lingered in them. And above all, it would prove once and for all, which one of them was stronger.

If Weiss was willing... There wasn't a single downside to the idea. Not that Ruby could think of, anyway.

"A... You want to fight me again?" Weiss sounded surprised, not that Ruby could blame her. This had come out of nowhere, and from a self-admitted unlikely source.

"Ye... Yeah." Ruby confirmed. "I do."

Looking far more confused than she did enthused, Weiss quirked an eyebrow, and tilted her head to the right. "Can I ask why?"

"There’s um... There’s a few reasons." Confessed the slightly taller girl, disregarding Weiss's heels. "The first is, I think it might be good practice for... You know, the mission." She lowered her voice when she mentioned this, so as not to alert anyone else who might be nearby."

"That makes sense."

"Reason number two is... I think it would be good for the team to know, so we can decide who should do what in any battle situations."

"That’s also a good point."

"And reason number three... I'm... Curious."

This earned no response from Weiss, who now switched to just silently looking at

Ruby like she'd just uttered some sort of taboo. It was difficult to read the expression she was wearing, but it didn't seem to be anything particularly positive or negative, ranging more to curiosity and neutrality.

"Y-You... Seemed frustrated and upset before... And I was surprised, so I didn't really fight back... But... I thought maybe you'd still want to know which of us was strongest... I-I'm sort of interested myself... S-So, if you're willing... I want to find out."

There was another tense moment as Weiss seemed to weigh up the pros and cons against one another in her head, contemplating the reasoning for the match against her own thoughts on the matter. Of course Ruby would have respected Weiss saying no. Since the fight was something that Weiss had gone on record to say she was ashamed of, this could just be opening the already sealed wound.

She could have said no.

"Alright."

But she didn't.

* * *

 

It honestly did amaze Ruby that Weiss agreed to a rematch.

Acknowledging and accepting each one of the reasons she had been given, Weiss had agreed to fight Ruby again, only this time, with a different set of rules. There wasn't any tricks involved, no secrecy, and no ulterior motives behind this match. Just honesty.

Both the girls wouldn't hold any negative feelings against one another, regardless of the winner. This was a given, but Weiss felt the need to specify this. Holding grudges, big or small, were what had led them into the mess that was their first fight in the first place, and that needed to be avoided. Her mind clear, Weiss was able to tell herself that, no matter the outcome of this fight, she would hold no animosity towards her younger partner. Ruby, of course, agreed.

Secondly, both of them would give the fight everything they had. They would use the combat training grounds Beacon provided, and they would not hold back for even a moment. Unless they really went for this, and truly fought with everything they had, then they had no reason to even be doing this. Not only did they need the practice, which was a good bonus, the main reason was that if they didn't give their whole power, then they weren't resolving anything. Whatsoever.

And finally, they were on even ground. No one side had an inherent advantage over another, excluding Trait functionality, that one going to Weiss. Genetics dictated that, and there wasn't any point in them trying to even that out, since it would be impossible short of a Trait that could alter genes themselves. This aside, they were even, and the battle would come down to who was strongest, who was more skilled, and who had the more powerful superpowers.

It was all fair, and after this, there would be no ambiguity. There wouldn't be any question.

They'd know who was stronger.

It wasn't anymore that Weiss felt that she was becoming inferior to Ruby. That wasn't why she had agreed to fight her today. With the state of the SDC, she needed to be the strongest she possibly could be if she ever hoped to bring it back to the glory it had before her father got his hands on it and drove its reputation into the ocean, so she was still aiming to be the strongest she could ever possibly be. That was still her goal.

But that wasn't why she was fighting. Not now anyway. She didn't feel threatened by Ruby. She didn't feel like she was superior to her. She felt like she was an equal to her, and when the change had occurred, she honestly couldn't tell. Their first fight had shattered the cold emotionally cocoon she had wrapped around her, in regards to Ruby anyway. If she'd been watching her through some sort of bias for the last few months wasn't possible to honestly say.

But she didn't hate Ruby. Never really did. She got frustrated... But she wasn't anymore.

Now she was ready to fight her on even grounds.

The training grounds at Beacon were roughly the same size as their first battleground had been, giving them plenty of open space to work with. Surrounding them was an invisible force-field, which would prevent their attacks from, were there any people in the audience, frying or injuring anyone around them. Essentially, they were contained within the battlegrounds until they were done.

"You ready?" Weiss questioned, looking over to Ruby to confirm if she wanted to go through with this.

Silver eyes met with blue, and conveyed everything without even a need to exchange words. It was rare for Ruby to be so calm and collected, ready to engage in a battle that she was going to take even more seriously than her initiation battles. Those had been alongside Weiss. This one was against her.

"Ready!" She called over, just to be safe.

Since they both had their Hero Costumes on, they could hammer one another without fearing the consequences too much. Weiss was able to use her fire powers without worrying if she was going to burn Ruby's flesh, and Ruby could use her blades without having to worry about slicing Weiss open - Like Weiss, Ruby had requested her teammates have a particular material in their outfits. A carbon-fibre alloy that was able to catch sharp objects attacks, and absorb the impact, which let Ruby use her attacks involving her scythes without causing injury to someone in her team.

No holding back.

Both of them stared at one another, and counted down in their heads, until they would launch their first attacks. A ten second timer from when both sides declared they were ready was their starting point.

3.

2.

1.

Ruby attacked first, using Kinetic Speed in her legs, which boosted her jumping abilities to a superhuman level, and launched herself towards Weiss like a bullet. This time, she was attacking first.

With speeds that the naked eye were just unable to follow, Ruby spun in the air, and swung her leg to perform a spinning back kick, aimed for Weiss' head. Neither once of them was prepared to throw any punches. They'd agreed to no hard feelings and not holding back, and Ruby fully intended to uphold that agreement. Her strike was lightning quick, and poised to land a massively damaging hit in the very first move.

Reacting just as quickly, Weiss activated her own power, and as quickly as Ruby had launched her attack, ice had formed around the left side of Weiss' head like a fungus, only rock solid, and durable like steel. The attack sent momentum into Weiss' body however, and it shook her to having to use her opposing leg to help balance herself out, but she'd negated much of the damage by encasing the point of contact with solidly condensed ice.

_ 'She's taking this seriously, at least.' _ Thought Weiss with a small smile curling onto her lips underneath the ice. That was good.

About a second after the initial impact, Weiss begun to increase her body's temperature at a rapid rate, using the heat part of her superpower. It didn't take even half a second for her entire body to erupt into flames, pushing back anything around her away with an intense salvo of heat and sparks of fire.

Reacting since she knew this was how Weiss would counter the initial attack, Ruby Teleported away instantly behind her partner, where the least amount of her fire was being concentrated. It was, understandable, an area of weakness in Weiss' part. Like many people who possessed powers like hers, her back was of least importance to her in combat.

For a Teleporter like Ruby however, these were great places to attack.

Combining the boost of speed from her first jump, and her Teleporting abilities, Ruby unleashed a second kick with her left leg, hitting her strike just where the right shoulder blade would be located, just underneath her opponents shoulder. Once there, she activated her Trait again, and used Weiss as a platform to jump back off of, sending her flying in the direction Ruby had kicked her, down to the ground, and sending the attacker in the exact opposite direction, upward into the sky, at a certain angle.

Since Ruby had gotten in the first successful strike of the match, Weiss forced herself to hone her senses and prepare for the next attack. Forced down onto her hands and knees from the jumping platform Ruby had made out of her, Weiss switched to her ice powers, and froze the entire floor underneath her in a thick layer of black ice.

When Ruby finally landed, she fell flat on her face within seconds, unable to maintain her balance on such slippery frozen surfaces. Weiss could due to her familiarity with ice as a direct result of her powers.

"Oof!" Ruby exhaled once she slipped and fell onto the ground. "No fair!"

"What are you talking about?" Weiss called out, freezing the surfaces below her even more, generating ice by freezing the molecules around her. Littered throughout the battlefield, spikes made of solid ice begun to jut out from the surface, forcing

Ruby to leap up and into the air to avoid the damage one such strike could potentially do to her. "Everything's fair on a battlefield!" Quoted the Schnee heiress, remembering the statement from one of the many classes Ruby no doubt didn't listen to.

Landing back onto the ground, the scene reminded Ruby of the background of their first battle, were Weiss had frozen the trees and she had used them as platforms to evade her enraged partners strikes. Each one stood as haphazardly and about as tall as the trees in the forest, thicker, but about the same. There were two differences regarding them though.

The first one being, these were made of totally solid ice. Ice that, when it began to melt due to the effects of Weiss' fire powers, or just the natural radiation of the sun, become weaker and less durable for Ruby to leap from.

The second difference being, she wasn't trying to evade Weiss today. She was on the warpath, and she was engaging her target with intent to be the victor, using whatever she had to do to achieve this goal.

Activating Kinetic Speed again, Ruby darted towards one of the pillars of ice, reaching near the top of the spire, with enough room for her to place her palms and the soles of her feet down flat against the object. Momentum was keeping her attached to the spike of frozen water molecules, preventing her from falling due to gravity, if only for a few nanoseconds, which was all Ruby needed.

A consecutive use of her speed Trait launched her away from the one she was using, and onto another. She then used her power again, and again, and again, darting between ice spike and ice spike in less than a second between the two of them, making pinpointing her location down directly completely impossible. By the time Weiss saw her, she was already on the other side of the room.

This was a trick she had learned from the other Teleporters in Beacon. A disadvantage to instant Teleportation was that it made their attacks rather predictable to an opponent, since it meant they had to get into their opponents personal space before they could launch an attack. It meant that their opponents would know they were coming, and could probably figure out a means of intercepting the attacks. If someone was stupid enough, or they'd even attack in a pattern, which made it way more easy for someone to figure out a counter method. Even if, unlike Weiss, they weren't smart, they could figure it out.

High Speed didn't work that way. By physically jumping from location to location, not only did it build up speed, but it also left her attacks unpredictable. Maybe she'd launch from the left, or the right, or above, or maybe she'd grab Weiss and throw her into the air - Because she was registered as being in all these places at once, there wasn't a way to track her and counter her with a good degree of predictability.

Jumping from pillar to pillar rapidly, Ruby saw Weiss from practically every angle in less than a second. Her brain was adapted to deal with this sort of thing, so her powers wouldn't cripple her ability to use the rest of her senses efficiently. If there was something about Weiss Ruby had to say she admired, it was her ability to calmly come up with counter strategies in combat. Her personality would suggest otherwise, but Weiss was great at keeping calm in order to plan the best attack, depending on her opponent. Her fighting skills were immense, contradictory to whatever people thought of the Schnee.

That's how Ruby knew, Weiss already was making her move. When steam started to emerge from her body, Ruby instantly figured it out.

Heat. She was using her heat to melt the pillars that she had already created. It would mean Ruby would be unable to confuse her by jumping the way she was doing. It would put them back in even playing grounds, at least for a moment, as Weiss would also have to melt the black ice she had created. All the pillars around her melted rapidly, already pools of water, and quickly turning into water vapour gas as they evaporated around the pale skinned girl.

The interval between Weiss getting rid of the invisible, slippery layer of ice, and replacing it, was the moment Ruby launched her strike.

Picking up speed that gave her incredible momentum and kinetic energy at her disposal, and activating her blades on her forearms, Ruby darted straight towards Weiss, and, with her left arm, swung and lodged the scythe into her stomach regions with every single shred of power she had in her.

Initially, the impact felt meaty, powerful, good, in a word. It felt like a solid strike, that it had knocked the air right out of Weiss, and that it would give Ruby a another free hit or so, or maybe she could just Teleport Weiss out of the ring altogether. It would give her options.

If it had worked.

When Ruby was able to look up at Weiss, and saw that she wasn't keeling over or looked to be in a particularly large amount of pain at all. It looked like she'd steeled herself for this attack. Her hands had grabbed hold of Ruby's arm already, one underneath to grab her wrists, and another around her elbow, preventing Ruby from bending it too far.

The impact site. It had already been frozen over before Ruby had made her strike. Weiss had somehow frozen her stomach, or at least the area around it, with a heavily dense, super reinforced ice that was as strong as diamonds. Perhaps that was an over exaggeration, but with the force Ruby had put into her attack, it probably was stronger than diamond!

Quickly, Weiss had reacted, and grabbed hold of Ruby's arm, and had begun to freeze it. Ice spread along Ruby's arms and froze the cells that were in her limb at such speed, Ruby could swear that it actually was burning her!

Teleporting wouldn't do anything now, since it would Teleport Weiss along with her, so she wouldn't have gotten away. Instead, she launched a right hook with her other arm, using Kinetic Speed as much as she could. Because she couldn't twist her body, it was nowhere near as strong or fast as it normally would be.

It was slow enough for Weiss to follow the strike with her eyes. With one swift movement, she moved her head to narrowly evade the strike, and then, pushing everything that she had into the movement, shoulder-slammed into Ruby. Generating ice just behind the two of them to act as a stumbling block, Weiss shoved Ruby so that her foot would catch onto the extended ice block, and trip her up right onto her back.

Weiss now at the advantage, she knelt down so that she was level with her toppled partners eyes, and with her left hand, a fireball emerged that remained in her hand, dancing around in her contained palm. “Checkmate."

There wasn't any way for Ruby to win anymore. Teleporting would bring Weiss along for the ride, and then she could just singe the younger girl with the fire she had ready to unleash. Kinetic Speed wouldn't do anything in this situation, since she had no way to unleash that energy, pinned by the older girl to the ground, and hand to hand without being able to use either of her powers, Weiss could just use hers to send Ruby to an early grave. She'd lost.

"Don't you need Blake for that move?" Ruby asked with a smug smirk on her face. Seeing the small twitch in her partners wounded eye, Ruby held her palms open in a mini surrender. "Alright, alright, I give. You win."

Barely even a fifth of the time in their original fight had passed, but that was to be expected when Ruby was trying to fight Weiss. Her powers were an excellent counter to Ruby's, and she herself was incredible. Quick thinking, smart, and with a power that gave her limitless options...

In a head to head fight, Ruby wasn't in the least bit surprised she had lost. In order to reach someone like Weiss' level... She had a long way to go.

"Did you actually give your all in that fight?" Weiss questioned, looking at Ruby with an almost accusatory look in her eye. She had snuffed out the flame in her left hand, but she hadn't moved to allow Ruby to stand up yet.

"Of course I did!" Ruby responded with a smile. It was honest as well. When it came to frontal assaults, Ruby wasn't at her strongest. She could hold her own, but against a power like the one Weiss had, she was very restricted in what she was able to do. Thermo was one of the few powers Ruby honestly had no method of countering, and Weiss one of the few people she could never see herself defeating.

There wasn't any sort of frustration or anger evident in either one of them. Rather, amusement seemed to be what was flowing the most throughout both of them, as neither was able to stop smiling after Weiss' initial scepticism had worn off.

"I'm starting to wonder why I was ever worried about you beating me." Weiss commented with a small laugh to her voice.

"I'll take that as damning with fine praise." Ruby chuckled, giving a small wink with her words.

She didn't know why she'd been worried about Weiss. She still didn't know what had calmed down her partner so much... But it didn't matter as much anymore. Previously she'd feared something was terribly wrong with her... But it was clear that she was okay. That was the only thing that was important.

"So, at the risk of sounding like Yang..." She added on, slyly. She could already tell that if she were here, her sister would be weeping in laughter-induced joy. "As much as I _love_ having you on top of me, I'd kinda like to get up now."

Until that comment, which was pretty damn risqué on someone like Ruby's half, Weiss hadn't actually noticed that she had more of less kept Ruby pinned to the ground despite the battle being over. As she had knelt, both her knees had been pressed into the ground. This had kept Ruby effectively between Weiss' thighs from the waistline down, making movement impossible. This had been how Kinetic Speed had been removed as an option for Ruby, uncompromising a position as it was. Weiss had also placed her right hand on Ruby's shoulder, in an effort to prevent Teleportation being a method of escape. Though her left hand had been containing a fireball, her face was close to her targets. How this had happened, Weiss genuinely had no recollection.

It took Weiss a few seconds to fully realise this, and then she was suddenly about as red as Ruby's cape. "This - This was to keep you from winning the match!"

"Stop blushing." Ruby teased. "Red's supposed to be my colour."

"You dolt." The pale skinned Schnee muttered, before standing upright, and holding a hand open for Ruby to grab. Once she did, Weiss pulled her up onto her feet, though she didn't let go of her hand. "So, I'm stronger than you."

"Told you so."

"Don't sound so pleased. Aren't you trying to get stronger too?"

"Of course I am." Ruby was always trying to get stronger, it matter the situation that she found herself in. It didn't matter what it was, or how she had to do it, but there was one thing about her that she refused to relinquish in the pursuit of becoming a string Hero. "I just don't let it drive me crazy. I take fights as they come, and grow from them that way."

"Is that what I've been doing?" Weiss suddenly questioned, looking towards the ground. Her voice had dropped to a quiet whisper, like she hadn't meant for Ruby to actually hear her. It was true, she always was pushing herself to the absolute maximum in her efforts to become as strong a Hero in as little time as possible...

But at the same time, that had been what had caused her frustration, amongst a million other little ticks and irritations. And she'd lashed out at her partner - What sort of Hero did that sort of thing?

Heroes were supposed to be symbols of justice, peace and defence against the harsh word that existed beyond the walls of the four Kingdoms. Steadfast warriors that were positioned to fight the evil that existed, in the Grimm, and the people they were supposed to be defending. But if a Hero fell victim to their own feelings like Weiss had, and lashed out like she had...

What sort of Hero was she in that case?

"You're too hard on yourself."

Her overthinking suddenly came to a screeching halt with those five words expelled from Ruby's mouth. They were just like the words she had used when they ended their first fight. Soft, calm, comforting and above all, they were saying what Weiss needed - Not wanted, but needed - To hear.

"You want to be a Hero. I do too. So does Yang and Blake. It's what we're all here for... But you're letting that pursuit get to you. You remember how Blake lost her mind after she found out the White Fang were in Vale?" How was Weiss supposed to forget that whole mess? "It's sort of like that. You're going to drive yourself crazy, Weiss... I don't want you to hurt yourself or end up like Blake did because you let becoming a Hero override you." Ruby looked at Weiss, right in her blue eyes, and pleaded with her own silver ones, "You can't let that happen... If you do..." _'I can't bear that'_ "...Then what's the point?"

For a while, Weiss was silent. Her goal had always been to fix the sullied name of the Schnee Design Company, as quickly as possible. That was why she had studied as hard as she had, why she fought as hard as she did, and why she had grown so frustrated with the people around her. Why were they even trying to be Heroes? What reason did they have? What reason had Ruby had?

She wanted to be a Hero because she wanted to be a Hero. That had been the reason Ruby had given. Not like her. Not like the valid reasons Weiss felt like she had..

But she was probably the most Hero-like out of their entire team. Ruby wanted to be a Hero just because she wanted to be a Hero...

And there wasn't a problem with that. And with that... She had become someone who truly deserved to be called a Hero. That said far more about Weiss than anything else.

And she wasn't blind to it. "...I understand. Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for this. For the battle, and what you just said."

She got her response in the form of a huge smile, and a cheerful chirp from her partner that almost reminded her of a baby bird. "No problemo Weiss! You're not just my teammate or partner, y'know. You're my friend! We need to look out for each other!"

Weiss couldn't help but smile back. And she made a mental note that throughout all of this, she hadn't let go of Ruby's hand, and the younger girl hadn't complained about it.

_ 'Yes. Friends.' _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fair few of you guys felt that their draw articulated that Weiss really was useless. Reading back on it, I could see that perspective. My need for another chapter before starting off what I feel will be a very good segment of this story led to this chapter being born. I hope you all liked it ^_^ The main purpose of this chapter was to articulate Ruby's crush on Weiss - Because lets be real here, she has a crush on Weiss. 
> 
> There will come a point where this chapter will be useful to me. The next few chapters will be going over the Primals, and their place in the story. This is where the main idea for this story starts to get developed, so get hyped for that ^_^ 


	7. A Change?

Saturday came so much faster than any of the members of Team RWBY had anticipated, like it had suddenly jumped ahead while the rest of the time had just evaporated into the ethers of nothingness. When Saturday actually came around, the group had to wait until nightfall, to be able to move around with less risk of detection.

So it was kind of like the time they took in the White Fang with Neptune and Sun, only without the backup.

Hero costumes were a no-go, unless they wanted to find themselves plastered on from of every single media outlet in Remnant. Best case scenarios, Heroes who worked outside of designated hours were sometimes considered to be lawful Vigilantes - People who were still students learning to become Heroes, not even graduated yet, that was very much illegal. It was all set up like this in the name of public safety.

Exceptions were made, but not often enough to warrant running the risk publically.

To that end, Ruby had equipped a different set of clothing to what she would normally throw on. Still fitting with her colour scheme, and still including that red cape that she almost considered to be an integral part of her identity, of course. She'd forgone the combat skirt and corset she normally wore as casual and

Hero attire, linking them too closely to herself. Instead, she opted for a cloak that was fastened just underneath her cape, dark scarlet with black and dark grey camouflage patterns. On her actual person, she had a combat vest on, and on top of that, was a red jacket. Unable to resist the urge, Ruby had customised said jacket with black trims at the ends, around her wrists. The jacket was designed to be combat flexible, and fireproof, on account of Weiss' Thermo Trait. Along with these, pure black, skin tight jeans were added on, again for the sake of remaining fireproof and retaining flexibility. Her boots however, remained unchanged.

She looked like a real Vigilante.

Yang and Blake also gave a distinct impression of Vigilantism, although to a far lesser extent than Ruby had. Their clothing remained similar to their casual clothing, with a few alterations and changes to that it was only recognisable to people who knew their clothing well - Limiting it down to pretty much just their team, and those who took a long, throughout inspection of it. They looked more rugged and less refined than they normally did, Yang looking like she'd just prepared herself for a street brawl with seven Abnormals and sixty Primals, while Blake looked more like she was ready to infiltrate a complex.

"Way to be subtle, Rubes." Yang commented upon seeing her sister's attire. It looked almost overdone and over complicated for a simple street skirmish, though Yang was fully aware of the stakes if they were found out by Heroes or any legal officials.

They could kiss away any hope they had of becoming Heroes.

"Like you're one to talk." Ruby retorted with a sisterly smile. "You might as well be holding up a big sign that says you want to fight someone." As if the help punctuate her point, Ruby then Teleported, just a few feet to the left. "I don't need to be too subtle, I can Teleport, remember?"

"Alright, fair enough." Yang chuckled and conceded her point, before shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket. The sides of said jacket reached down to her shins, but had no back or front piece, acting instead as side capes almost. The colour was brown far more dimmed than anything she'd normally wear, excluding black, which was the same colour as her boots. Everything she wore was ultra-durable and absorbent, which allowed her to unleash her explosions from wherever she wanted on her body without completely obliterating the clothes she wore.

And of course, she decided on keeping sunglasses handy. Sometimes Ruby wondered how she'd even be able to see out of them in the dark, but she found a way somehow. Yang claimed it was to do with her red eye visual quirk which gave her greater perception, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone who didn't share that particular Quirk.

Which pretty much limited it to Blake, and Blake alone, at least within Team RWBY. Faunus shared the ability to see in the dark, although this wasn't exactly the same thing as Yang having a quirk that let her see in enhanced darkness. Regardless of that however, Blake stood poised, and was probably the most read and serious member of the team regarding this particular mission they'd given themselves. Stood in her black outfit, black jeans, long sleeves shirt, black practically everything. With the only white parts being around her joints, and the pouches that she kept fastened to a belt around her waist, which contained various bits of equipment, like smoke bombs or flammable powder, and other such assessors, she was more than ready to go at this stealthily if that was what was required, not that she couldn't handle herself against someone in outright combat. Her Trait would come in handy if that were the case.

"So, where's Weiss?" Blake questioned, glancing around the room, and noting that only the Schnee heiress wasn't present.

"She's still getting ready." Ruby informed her Faunus friend, using her thumb to point to the door Weiss had sealed herself behind a while ago, located behind the Dual Trait user.

This did feel rather excessive though. Ruby knew that Weiss usually took a while to get ready to go anywhere whatsoever, but she'd been sorting out her costume for the last twenty minutes. No doubt that she'd make up some sort of excuse along the lines of the thousands of Schnee expectations and rules and whoever knew what else. It had only taken Ruby about five minutes to sort out everything. She'd spent the last fifteen customising her jacket.

Deciding that they'd been waiting for plenty of time already - All three of them had rotated out of one of the rooms, each of them not taking long at all, while Weiss hadn't even finished in the time it had taken them all to get ready. Not that it was uncommon, Weiss did do this frequently - Yang made her way to the door

Ruby pointed to, and slammed her fist on the door three solid times before calling into the room. "Having fun in there, Ice Queen? We're waiting on you!"

"Be patient! I'm nearly ready." Came the same response Ruby had got the last two times she'd tried that.

"We're about to take on a bunch of Primals that Blake thinks are working with the White Fang, and you're taking this long? What, you going as an actual Ice Queen or something?" Yang asked, though she didn't get a response to her joke. She sighed and looked over to Ruby. Lowering her voice so the Atlesian girl behind the door she was by wouldn't hear, she whispered, "You feel like going and seeing what's taking her so long?"

All Ruby did at that was blush, before responding, "If you can promise she won't set me on fire or freeze me to death." She knew her sister was just teasing her. She'd been like that the minute she'd figured out Ruby was fond of her partner.

"Another good point."

"I can't imagine that Weiss would appreciate that." Blake commented. She didn't see much amusement in the situation, but considering her history with the White Fang, it was understandable. She probably wanted to just get to what they had planned to do.

While the group had to spend a short while longer waiting for Weiss, they were able to discuss strategy, so, they sat in a triangle, with a map of the docks in the middle of them. Blake claimed that the group were discussing a shipment of some description, so the air-dockyard made the most sense. Since she and Ruby had a vague understanding of the layout, since this was where she and Sun had attacked Roman Torchwick, during the whole revelation that she was a Faunus. Ruby had arrived with Penny, so she had at least a fleeting understanding of the base layout.

Still, a map was needed, since they had only been to a single section of the place.

Several identical docks existed, side by side, making it more efficient for multiple airships to land, restock and refuel in one swoop. That meant that the areas that White Fang members could be hiding was multiplied, though it certainly didn't make a whole lot of sense. They had been discovered there once, so Vale police kept a close eye on the area, in case some member who hadn't got the message that the area was compromised stumbled there accidentally.

Even so, it had been months. Maybe the White Fang figured that the Vale police had lessened their security there. And they wouldn't be wrong.

"We've got at least ten warehouses that they could be hiding in, and they've got their backs to the river, so we can't rule out the possibility of them using a boat or airship system to escape if we get spotted." Blake said, running her finger along the map as she spoke to punctuate the points she was making.

That made a lot of sense. If Primals were joining the White Fang, and the Pro-Faunus organisation hadn't made it clear that the species was welcome into their ranks, that meant that these guys were working in secret, or were on some deal. Either way, they would be paranoid, and ready to run like hell the second that they sensed something was wrong.

"So we need to block off those routes of escape." Yang nodded in her understanding. "Well the river should be pretty easy to deal with. Weiss should be able to freeze it, right? That'd cover any boat escape routes."

"It's not all that subtle though." Ruby pointed out. This was just common sense. "She'd be attacked as soon as they figured out where she was, and that she was why the water was freezing."

"Plus, her powers can't just freeze water instantly." Blake added on. "She alters temperature, she doesn't freeze things instantly. She's not Cryokinetic, she can't just generate ice instantly. She'd probably need a short while to actually freeze a large chunk of the river. But she can't use her fire powers while freezing the river..."

"...So she'd be defenceless." The youngest member of the team gulped. Someone needed to protect Weiss while she was doing that, and that was of she even could turn water into ice like they had theorised she could.

The group fell into slight silence for a short moment, recognising that, even if Weiss was willing to do that, it was probably one of the most dangerous parts of the operation. Not only would she be defenceless and making it clear where she was, the second that she did it, the ability for stealth would be completely gone. It would, with one hundred percent certainty, devolve into combat after that.

And that was assuming this was the White Fang. If this was a huge misunderstanding, Weiss was easily going to get the worst of the backlash for this. It could very easily cripple her ability to become a Hero like she wanted.

When they group thought about it like that...

Ruby took a deep breath. She would defend Weiss. It was only fair. Weiss was her partner, and the group had essentially decided Weiss' role without her say. If Weiss was going to be in the most danger, it was only fair that Ruby had her back. "...I'll - "

"I'll cover Weiss." Yang suddenly declared, the biggest grin on her face. As she spoke, her knuckles collided into one another in front of her, small sparks flying off her hands and into the room around them.

The sudden announcement threw Ruby off for a moment, her head snapping to look at her older sister. She had a smirk on her face that the younger sibling couldn't quite read.

"Agreed." Blake nodded. To her, the choice made a lot of sense, and it was going to be what she recommended that they go as anyway.

"W-Wait a second!" Ruby protested, catching the attention of both her teammates. "Shouldn't I be the one to cover Weiss?"

"How d'you figure?" Her sister asked, that grin still on her face, lopsided to the right.

"She - She's my partner, and I know her fighting style best. We've got good cohesion on our last assignment too!"

At this, Yang openly laughed at her sister's obvious fluster that she was trying to hide. "Rubes, I'm not gonna steal your girlfriend, don't worry."

Though she knew that Yang was just teasing, that it was just Yang's way of making light of the situations at hand like she always did, that Yang truly meant no malice, it was starting to irritate Ruby, just that tiniest of bits, that she seemed to assume anything involving Weiss was Ruby's crush talking. She did have the ability to separate her own feelings from the situation at hand. "That's not -"

"Think about it, Ruby." Blake interrupted the exchange between the two sisters, locking eyes with Ruby to acquire her full attention. "Weiss and Yang have the strongest powers out of our entire team. My Shadow Trait is useful, and so are your Kinetic Speed and Teleportation, but in a fight, we aren't the strongest. Our powers aren't designed for outright all out warfare. We have to use our powers and focus on their destructive capability to be able to fight, but those two don't even need to think about that. Their Traits are designed for combat, which makes pairing them up best for what I have planned. Weiss is going to be freezing the river, right? That means that Yang has the strongest power out of everyone left, plus she's got the most combat experience out of all of us. She's the best at close combat, and she'll only get stronger over the time of the fight. Weiss would be safest with Yang. Besides, I need you with me."

The logic being used was solid, and Ruby couldn't argue with it. It was true that inherently, Teleportation wasn't a combat focused Trait. Though she had toned her body to be physically strong, and had refined her muscles to help her achieve this goal, Teleportation was a travel type Trait. The same for Kinetic Speed, though less so than her primary Trait. That had combat capabilities, but it wasn't designed for it. She could use herself as a ballistic missile if the need arose, but she would suffer recoil damage herself, which limited how much damage she could do. She had developed a tolerance to it, but she hadn't developed an immunity to it.

Though she had learned to do so, Blake's Trait was also inherently not combat focused. Her power was designed for a creature to hide from the shadows, someone that didn't attack outright, but even a cornered animal would fight when it had to, hence her powers ability to fight effectively.

Weiss and Yang? Their powers could unleash chaos, and they would suffer minimal backlash. They were designed for combat. They could use their Traits to take out anyone who stood in their way.

To make it into an analogy, Ruby was like a rabbit, whose only defensive mechanism was their ability to run. The only difference was that Ruby had the intelligence to use her powers to fight. Blake was an ambush predator, like a hawk. She worked best when using surprise, but she could fight like hell when she had to. Weiss and .yang were like sharks, capable of unleashing untold carnage when provoked or the need arose.

If one of them was defenceless... Then it made sense for one of their best to be ready to protect them. Ruby couldn't argue with this. Though she did catch part of what Blake had said at the end of her sentence, and wanted to know more. "What do you need me for?"

Pointing at the warehouses on the map, the taller girl explained her thinking. "Once we find the warehouse the Primals are using to hide whatever it is they're hiding, you and I are going to need to sneak inside. If they have an airship or something inside, they could just get in there and fly off, and it also gives us a chance to make sure that these guys are actually White Fang." Knowing Ruby understood, Blake looked up at her team leader, sympathetic to her feelings, but determined to carry out this plan correctly. "You get it, don't you? I can disable any airships, and I should be able to overhear any conversations they have, but I'll need you to help me get from place to place. Teleportation will be really useful for this sort of task."

Blake had thought this out carefully. Of course, being one of the most intelligent members of the team, it shouldn't have surprised anyone that she could formulate elaborate plans like this. She had a talent for thinking things through while taking into consideration the powers and capabilities of those who she had command of. She probably had a few backup plans in case there proved to be an issue with the ones she had come up with, but if Weiss was willing to roll with the risks, this plan was perfect for the team.

And as much as she wanted to fight it, Ruby knew that Blake was right. She trusted her judgement. It had never steered them wrong before, and her hunches usually were correct.

"Once we finish inside, or we hear something outside, we'll go straight to help Yang and Weiss." Reassured the former White Fang member. "We should be done quickly. I promise."

Stopping her teasing for just a moment, Yang changed to a more serious, sincere tome. "She'll be safe with me, sis, don't worry."

She would admit, Ruby had originally felt rather apprehensive about Yang finding out about her crush on Weiss. How couldn't she? She herself barely knew what was going on with her own emotions. It took her the longest time to even admit it herself. Yang had taken a guess eventually, somewhat recently actually, and Ruby didn't deny anything. Aside from the continuous teasing that Yang specialised in every single time an opportunity presented itself, and her jokingly questioning her sisters tastes, Yang had been completely in favour of Ruby's thoughts and feelings, whatever they were. She was always on Ruby's side.

Though she had apparently let it slip to Blake, hence how she now knew. Regardless of that though, Blake had comforted Ruby in the same responses that Yang had. The Faunus girl considered the entire team to be like her family at this point, and that meant she felt the same sisterly affections for Ruby that her familial sister did. She'd been completely supportive and encouraging to her young team leader.

It was why, despite that slight irritation that Ruby felt when they kept teasing her, she was thankful to have been blessed with such amazing teammates. They knew and understood her when it came to Weiss. They knew she wasn't saying or doing anything just to be difficult. It was that they knew how she felt about their resident Thermo Trait user. It wasn't to be awkward. It wasn't to just hang out with her 'bestie'. It wasn't lust.

It was just a pure, affectionate crush. That was all. She cared for Weiss, and wanted to make certain that she was safe. She wasn't even asking for reciprocated feelings from her crush. Just her friendship was enough. As Yang put it, it was the 'Purest of crushes'.

For those reasons, for their understanding and support, Ruby trusted them completely. She'd out her life into any of their hands at any point in her life, and had faith that they would do everything they could to protect her.

It was that trust that made Ruby sigh, look at the map, and then back to her teammates. "Okay. Alright, I trust you both. Let's do it."

"Speaking of doing things," The blonde brawler raised her voice suddenly, "Weiss, you gonna be ready some time tonight?"

Upon the completion of her sentence, Yang was rewarded by the door that hid Weiss twisting, and then being swung open. With the overall simplicity of the outfit, Yang was partially convinced Weiss had taken so long purely to spite her and Ruby.

This was one of the few occasions that Weiss let her hair stay down, not bothering to do it up in her side ponytail that characterised her appearance. Unlike the others however, she had donned a eye mask, which she was wearing right now. The mask had loose large holes where her eyes were, making it thin at all points, and very long ties at the back, allowing the light blue ribbon material it was made of flow, long as her hair was. The ribbon reached the ends of the scar on her eye, but it didn't cover up the entire thing, anything inside it was still visible, along with her blue eyes. She'd forgone the necklace she normally wore, deeming it an unnecessary addition to the costume, unfit for purpose.

From the head down, she retained a corset-like outfit, which like everyone else's, was highly durable to flame and heat, though hers were capable of withstanding the damaging effects of flame and frost outfit was snow white, with black string laces criss-crossed and pressed across her stomach to keep it fastened to her. A posh jacket, no doubt brought from Atlas, expensive and a slightly darker grey, went over the corset. It reached down to her wrists. On the inside, much like her Hero costume, and her casual clothing, it was a bright red colouration, although it was not at all as obvious as her other outfits were. From the waist down, she retained the combat skirt style that she seemed so proud and defensive of, still added on with frills wt the end, though these were black.

Overall, she wasn't exactly hiding the fact she came from a wealthy family. It did a decent job at hiding her face, but it wasn't going to win her many points if someone saw her and knew that a Schnee studied at Beacon, it probably wouldn't take them long to figure out who she was.

It wasn't exactly subtle, but it did the job.

"You took your time." Stated Blake, glancing up to look at her teammate's attire before she returned to the map in front of her.

"I wanted to make sure everything was fit for purpose." Weiss responded, making her way over to the group. She was still in heels, which Ruby would never understand how she fought in. They had custom spikes in them, to allow Weiss to use them to prevent her from sliding everywhere when she used her ice powers.

"Is that a Schnee thing?" Yang questioned with a laugh.

"As a matter of fact, it is." Informed the heiress, glaring daggers towards Yang. "I might not have taken as long if I didn't kept getting disrupted." As she spoke, he glare then shifted to include Ruby into her direct sight, keeping both the half-sisters in her gaze. Such a ferocious stare threatened to generate static electricity if she kept this up.

Neither of the two girls seemed particularly phased by such a look anymore. They had grown used to these death stares from the Thermo Trait user. They had adapted to them quickly, and come to just shrug them off when they started up.

With a small huff, Weiss sat down next to Ruby, causing the triangle to become a square as she peered over to look at the map Blake provided. Ruby was normally able to control herself when it came to staring at her partner, displaying far more self-discipline than someone would expect from someone like her. Right now though, she just couldn't stop herself. She loved Weiss' hair when she let it down like this. Her ponytail had its charms as well, but there was something about how her hair was when she didn't keep it in that lopsided bundle. It looked softer, silkier than when she did it up. Clearly, she looked after her hair a large amount. The time it took her to just wash, condition and brush it was immense in itself. Ruby enjoyed her short hair, and felt it was more practical and suited her better, but Weiss's hair was always beautiful to her partner.

Ruby shook her head and forced herself to look away before Weiss saw her. Yang noticed and smirked, though she hid it well.

"So, what plans do we have?" Questioned the pale skinned girl.

* * *

It surprised the group just how quick to accept the role she had been given Weiss was. She didn't protest, or even ask for if there were any sorts of alternatives. She accepted the arrangements and the dangerous task she had been given without hesitation. Acknowledging it was their best chance for victory in this scenario, she made it very clear that she was willing to go along with their strategists plan. She even accepted Yang being her teammate for the purpose of this mission, agreeing that it was the most logical choice.

She had confirmed Blake's theory that she wouldn't be able to instantly freeze a large body of water. Her power worked by allowing her to either slow down or speed up particles, which led to her being able to either generate ice or fire. With a pre-existing source of liquid, she'd need time to slow down all those particles, meaning that she did need defending while she made herself an obvious target.

So that had settled it. As awarded their code names by Ruby, Team Freezerburn would focus on freezing the river water and preventing any naval attempts at escape, while Team Ladybug would infiltrate the warehouse, disable any airships that might be hidden, confirm their targets, and then move to help their friends. How Ruby came up with such ridiculous team names, Weiss really had no clue – She had been under the impression it had been her and Yang's special move, but apparently Ruby decided not to fix what wasn't broken - But the plan on the other hand, was solid.

Ruby would be able to Teleport the group over to the docks with two or three jumps, with a short few second break between each one. The reason she gave for this was that the more weight that was added onto her person, each Teleport became harder, and it drained her stamina quicker. By herself, she would be able to get there a lot faster, but the combined mass of her teammates meant she'd need to make a few more additional stops. She'd essentially be carrying three other people at once. One person was an easy task, and two was doable, but there wasn't any way she'd be able to instantly move three near full grown late teenagers.

So instead, they planned on making three stops. Ruby would be able to Teleport the three of them as far as the city of Vale's outskirts. Since she knew the layout of the city well, she could land them on the roof of an obscure building there, minimising the chances of them getting spotted. She'd then need a minute to catch her breath, and then she'd be able to repeat the process, getting them that bit closer to the warehouses. The final jump should get her to the warehouse outskirts, where the two teams would separate and carry out their separate objectives.

At about midnight, Team RWBY began to make their move. After encouraging words from her team, assuring her that they were confident that she could do this, Ruby activated her Primary Trait, and Teleported them to the City of Vale.

Emerging from the flurry of rose petals that her Trait caused whenever she used one of her powers, the group found themselves just on the edge of the city, atop a taller building, the tallest one on the edge of the surrounding buildings. Taller constructions existed, but from this distance, late at night, they would be covered by darkness. It had been a smart choice of building.

Though, the second that they reappeared there, Ruby fell straight to her knees, drenched with sweat and totally out of breath. Her face was as red as the cape that she customised everything with, and she seemed to struggle to even inhale anything. With how her powers worked, it wasn't surprising at all. She could possess enough energy to outrun a Jaguar, but when she had to carry and do her equivalent of running with basically three times her own weight strapped to her back, that energy was easily going to be used up.

"Whoa there, Rubes!" Yang reacted about as quickly as her sister had fallen. Reaching for a pocket in her utility belt, she quickly produced a metallic canister filled with water, coloured dark green and patterned with yellow splatters. Unscrewing the cap of the container, she held it out for Ruby to take. "Here, drink up."

Wheezing out some sort of noise that was made up of gratitude, Ruby took the canteen and began to greedily drink every single drop of liquid that was inside. She didn't even stop to take a breath between gulps. The second she was done, she let out the largest sigh any of them had ever heard, and tried to regain her breath. Yang took the canteen back into her hands and from the same pockets, produced a cookie, which she handed Ruby.

As the younger girl consumed the small treat to regain some of her energy, Weiss had to question the exact routine that was going in here. "Shouldn't we wait until we actually reach the warehouse before she replenishes her stamina?"

"If she doesn't do that now, then she's gonna lose distance on her Teleporting." Yang explained, patting her sister on the head like she was some sort of affectionate puppy. "If she's low on energy, then her maximum distance drops. Dramatically. You could say it falls _Weiss_ down."

Sighing, Blake covered her face with her hand. "Really, Yang? That was a stretch."

"Don't be so - "

"Stop."

Though the Explosive Impact Trait user looked like she was ready to retort with another pun, tortured as it may be, just on the tip of her tongue, until she actually took account of the sheer amount of the water that her sister had ingested. Shaking the bottle to the left and right, hearing a slight metallic trickle hit the insides of the container, she realised that Ruby had drunk the entire thing.

"Ruby, you know this was the only water that we had, right?" As she spoke, Ruby's eyes seemed to grow as they shot open. She almost looked like she was begging

Yang to reveal it was some sort of joke. She had two more massive jumps like this she had to do, and now she was going to have to do them while immensely dehydrated. "Now _water_ we going to do?"

"Yang - "

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood, okay?"

Weiss just sighed, and walked over to Yang and snatched the container from her hand. When Yang gave her an odd look, she just sat down near Ruby and began to activate her Trait. "Just give me a few minutes, I'll make some more water."

Freezing the moisture in the air around her wasn't much of a challenge for Weiss, nor did she even need to think about it. She froze layer after layer on a regular basis, which was how she generated her ice. Before long, the entire canister was filled up with solid frozen liquid. At this point, Weiss used her heat generation abilities to heat the ice and cause it to melt.

Sometimes her teammates forgot, between crafting incredible sculptures and glaciers of ice, and scorching and searing her targets in consuming flame, that she was capable of more refined, practical things with her Trait.

It marked one of the rare times that Ruby saw Weiss's right eye turn orange. Part of a visual Quirk of hers, somewhat similar to Yang's. It was an inconsistent one too, not really activating all the time. As her powers granted her both the abilities to create ice, and to create fire, sometimes when she used her heat based aspect, her right eye would turn orange for a few minutes, leaving her with temporary complete heterochromia. Normally, it wore off inside ten minutes, but it was an odd visual Quirk.

Besides, unique as it was, Ruby preferred her blue eyes.

"You dolt." Weiss suddenly chastised Ruby as she went about the task she was doing, looking at her like she was scolding an insolent child, though sometimes Weiss was convinced that this was the case. "What would you have done if I hadn't been here to do this? You'd be completely dehydrated and you'd struggle to use your powers."

"I guess I'd have to go buy some?" Ruby joked.

"Dressed like that?" The eyebrow above her orange eye now quirked up, though she did seem to recognise the tone Ruby had used. "Seriously Ruby, you need to take better care of yourself. You knew that moving all of us at once would put strain on your body, didn't you? Didn't you think that maybe bringing some water bottles would have been smart?"

"I... Uh... It slipped my mind?"

"Idiot." Weiss shook her head and handed Ruby the canteen, now filled with water. She had melted the ice down to water, and used her cold powers to cool to down from the warm point it had been at once reverted from its solid state. "There, that should be enough for the next jump. I'll make some more after that."

"Awesome! Thanks Weiss!" Ruby suddenly sprung into her feet, apparently having regenerated the energy that she had been lacking mere moments ago.

Her sister and her partner were on the other side of the roof, discussing something regarding the operation that was going on. Eager to let them know that she was better and ready to go, Ruby took a step towards them, and was about to call out to them.

"Ruby."

When Weiss said her name however, Ruby stopped and turned right back around. Weiss' amusement or the closest that one could get to charitably calling amusement was all but gone, replaced with a serious expression that suited Weiss like red suited the midday sky. It was a shame that she normally expressed herself such like this, but there was something different about it this time.

"Yeah?" Asked the young Dual Trait user, finding herself curious now. "What's up?"

"When we get back from this, I want to have a talk with you." That had been the last thing Ruby had been expecting to hear from her partner. Weiss seemed to almost be fidgeting, forcing her fingers to stay as still as possible, something that she never did. She almost seemed nervous to even be saying that, but forced herself to, like that was yet another creed of the Schnee family that needed to be obeyed at all points, regardless of personal feeling or belief. "It's important."

"Um… Okay?" Ruby agreed, though her voice wavered in her uncertainty. She had been caught off guard by that statement, and she wasn't entirely certain what it was that Weiss wanted. She had thought that she and her had been getting along as well as they normally did, even having the number of arguments that they normally had toned back quite a bit.

Was Weiss angry with her, or had something come up? Ruby honestly couldn't guess which of these the case was, but she openly and readily agreed to the conversation Weiss wanted to have once they returned to Beacon.

"Is it… Bad?" She decided to ask, desiring to get some information out of the cryptic Schnee. Anything at all.

"I'm not mad with you or anything, fi that's what you're concerned about." Weiss reassured Ruby before she stood up herself, and dusted down the Vigilante costume she had equipped herself with. "But as I said, it is important that we have this discussion."

"Well… Okay then, we'll talk when we're back home about… Whatever it is you want to talk about."

* * *

Twice more Ruby Teleported, and twice more the routine of her replenishing her energy was fulfilled, before they finally wound up on the outskirts of the docks. This late at night, it seemed almost like it had been abandoned for decades, not a single sound or any movement could be detected. Even Blake's enhanced Faunus senses couldn't find anything out of the ordinary occurring right now.

The prospect of this being some sort of wild goose chase wasn't one that any of them were particularly interested in. The past few days had been a tense guessing game whenever a Primal had walked into the room, looking at the out of the corner of their eyes. Watching out for any possible signs to indicate connections to the White Fang, though each turned out completely false.

As Ruby finished the water Weiss had made for her and stood up to join her team at looking over the edge of the building they were situated at, she found them scanning the entire port for something that might give away where their enemies might be hiding. From this point on, Ruby wouldn't use her Teleporting abilities to transport the group from various points. It would cause too much stress to her system and it would eat up too much time for her to replenish her energy.

One person along for the ride wasn't a big deal though, so the group elected Blake to go with Ruby to scout out the warehouses to see if they could find the one that the Primals must have been hiding in. With the natural night vision her Faunus heritage gave her, and how she also had senses far higher than that of an average human – Excluding those who had sense enhancement as powers – she would be the best suited individual for locating enemy combatants in darker conditions. She was the smartest choice to go scouting with Ruby, and it was universally agreed within the team that she should be the one to go.

As soon as they had set a time frame of perhaps ten or fifteen minutes of which to be back, Ruby and Blake disappeared in a puff of smoke and rose petals, leaving Yang and Weiss alone.

"Do you want some water?" Weiss offered, already using her powers yet again to freeze moisture in the air of which she would then melt. She almost felt like a glorified water cooler. She'd spent the last half an hour just generating water for the team, which came close to feeling like a waste of a Trait.

On the bright side, if they ever took a job in the Vacuan desert, they wouldn't struggle to get hold of water.

"I'm good." Yang responded, sitting down against a cube of concrete that, behind the door, resided a staircase of which most people would walk up and down in order to gain access to the roof. "I just need to sit down. Ruby's Teleporting always disorientates me after a while."

The Schnee girl just nodded, understanding that opinion, and agreeing with it also. Teleporting was a bizarre concept to Weiss, even though she'd seen Ruby do it a thousand times, and have been Teleported herself multiple times too. People who could Teleport naturally must have had some sort of immune resistance or something along those lines to the disorientation that being Teleported could make one feel.

How Ruby managed to do all those spins, jumps, strikes and achieve high speeds while Teleporting around like a lunatic was completely outside Weiss' grasp. How she didn't vomit on a regular basis was up to the science behind it. She must have some sort of immunity to the side effects, the Thermo Trait user was absolutely convinced of this.

Regardless of these facts, she also sat herself down on the spot, not against anything, just crossed legged while she used her powers to generate water. She was starting to regret not doing her hair up in a knot or pony tailing it or literally anything else. Part of it was the element of secrecy, since she'd seldom ever been seen without her hair done up neatly to the point where her teammates hadn't even recognised her at times, with her own reactions varying from amusement to downright hostility.

Regardless of this fact though, she was relaxed and rather quiet while she went about her work, finding the silence to be subtly comforting. Weiss wasn't the type to talk for the sake of talking, particularly not when a battle was imminent. She preferred to mentally prepare herself, as opposed to distracting herself from the incoming conflict.

"So, you and Ruby."

And there it was.

Weiss had known – Absolutely known for a fact – That Yang was going to bring this up again. It had been a case of just how long it was going to be before their brawler brought this topic up again.

Ever since the 'date' that Ruby and she had had, as the other two members of their team had put it, Yang had taken the opportunities she had gotten to prey into Weiss' thoughts and feelings – Every single chance she got. To her credit, she wasn't pushy in any particular way, nor was she intrusive or threatening, like one would expect from the blonde Explosive Impact Trait user.

The issue was simply that Weiss had no desire to talk about it, at least not with Yang or Blake. The issue was her lack of comfort about the topic with them. The two people who she and Ruby saw every single day were the last people Weiss wanted to know about what was going on in her head.

Letting out a very clearly irritated noise, Weiss glared towards Yang, trying to make it as clear as physically possible that she was in no mood for discussing this topic. "Can we not do this right now?"

"When're we gonna get another opportunity like this?"

"We'll get plenty as soon as we get back to Beacon."

"Yeah, but right now both Rubes and Blake are gone, so you've got the best chance to chat without one of them hearing you."

Another noise of exasperation left Weiss' throat. "Yang, can we please just not? I don't feel like having this discussion with you before we go and do something dangerous."

Were it not for their desire to remain hidden, Yang would have unleashed an explosion out of habit. Her fingers tenses up into claws, an action she only really took when she wanted to activate her Trait. Instead, a few small sparks flew off her fingers. She seemed to have a grin on her face.

Danger was what Yang practically thrived on. Weiss had forgotten, momentarily.

Relenting, Weiss just sighed, this time without any annoyance evident to her tone. It was clear Yang was just concerned about Ruby and her wellbeing. She was a lot like Winter in that regard, though perhaps not as cold.

It also seemed unlikely Yang would drop the discussion until she got an answer. She could be stubborn as hell when she desired to be. Relenting, Weiss answered. "Look, I don't know what I think, okay? I've told Ruby that I want to talk to her when we're done here. Could we please have this discussion after that?"

Yang's scepticism was well warranted at that point, and she raised an eyebrow along with it. "So you have no idea what you think about her, but you're going to talk to her about… What are you gonna talk to her about anyway?"

"Everything."

Before she could be questioned as to what on earth that meant, the two teammates found themselves suddenly surrounded by rose petals again, and from them emerged both Ruby and Blake once again, dropping back into the group quite literally, since Ruby had apparently caused them to reappear about a foot higher than the level of the building.

Both hit the rooftop at about the same time, and after a very brief rebalancing issue, Blake announced what they'd been waiting to hear.

"We've found them."

* * *

Storage warehouse D, three columns away from where Ruby had landed them at warehouse A. No wonder it hadn't taken too long, they'd barely had to even move to see the Primal group.

And a Primal group they certainly were. Their feats of physical strength were attest to that if nothing else.

Primals were different to Humans and the Faunus. Instead of possessed animal quirks like the Faunus did, the Primal species instead had large, intricate markings along the entire lengths of their arms, like tattoos, only natural. These markings were randomized depending on what powers the individual had, and every member there, bar maybe two, had those marking on their exposed, sleeveless arms – Another Primal unique trait. Their species held great pride in their markings, and for a primal to cover them up was a rare even indeed. So rare that if someone was indeed wearing long sleeves on their clothes, it was a fairly safe bet that they weren't a Primal.

The two that didn't have these markings were definitely Faunus. One had a large lizard like tail adorned with metallic scales, while the other one had what looked to be a set of gills in their neck.

Along with this, while Primals did possess powers known as Primalitys, they were estimated to be about only half as strong as the Traits both Humans and Faunus developed. However, in exchange, all Primals had superhuman levels of physical strength and ability. The worlds weakest Primal was easily stronger than the worlds strongest Human or Faunus, excluding Strength Enhancement Type Traits.

The White Fang masks also confirmed the fears that Blake had been carrying all this time and that was that the White Fang were recruiting not only Primals, but students as well. Her past with said organization had always been something that had influenced her, and such a revelation was bound to hurt in some way or another. Even if she was no longer affiliated with them.

That was why they were here though, to stop this from happening.

"So… We're sure they're not just really, really, _really_ enthusiastic mask collectors?" Joked Yang while she moved into position with Weiss, ready to leap down to the ground and flank around the warehouse to get to the river.

"Remember the plan." Blake told her friends. "As soon as you freeze the river, everyone is going to head towards you. We'll pick off the ones we can once it's started."

"We know." Weiss confirmed, just as ready as Yang was to get to work with this plan.

"Be careful, guys." Ruby told her teammates before she placed her hand onto Blake's shoulder, and activated Teleportation once again, sending her and the cat Faunus into the warehouse location to begin their stealth mission.

"You ready?" Yang questioned, her teeth bare from her huge smirk. Weiss wondered if she'd seen Yang without a grin on her face for the entirety of the past week.

"Ready." Weiss confirmed, and at the same time, both the Heroes in Training / Vigilantes took one step forward, and allowed gravity to drag them down to the ground.

A two story drop wasn't a difficult thing to survive from, so both of them landed with absolute ease, before they made a quick dash to the nearest bit of cover, which was a selection of crates that directly adjourned the warehouse. Both of them doubles back to behind the building they had been standing atop of after realizing their options were far more limited than they had suspected from up top, and began to use the building as cover for as long as possible until they reached the edge of said building.

Between them ant the next bit of cover, which was another building which looked like it had seen better days, was about fifty meters of completely open terrain, flat and grey. Any colour that came into contact with that was going to stand out like a fire in Atlas, and have roughly the same results too. They'd be spotted almost instantly if they timed this poorly.

Yang decided to take the first lookout, while Weiss would make the first run to the next line of cover. They were waiting for about thirty seconds before Yang gave the signal to move, the Primals being distracted by something, whatever it was, that deviated their attention to the point that they were looking a complete one hundred eighty degrees away from the Vigilantes position Weiss made it across no problem, and Yang made it across too, in the same mad rush while the Primals were distracted. Had Ruby and Blake done that, or had that been a coincidence?

There wasn't time to dwell on it.

Both the brawler and the heiress made their way through the battered building, noting that it looked like it had just been hit by some sort of explosive device. Whatever had happened to it, it was still fantastic cover for them, as it kept them concealed until they reach a set of metal containers, which they were also able to navigate their way through with ease, and after that, they were outside their targets peripheral vision.

Though it seemed to only take a couple of minutes, they had in fact been sneaking around for a solid ten. By the time they managed to make their way to the river, it had been twenty. Yang and Weiss had never missed Ruby's teleporting abilities more than they had in that moment, disorientation be damned to hell.

"You think Ruby and Blake have had enough time to do what they need to do?" Yang asked, preparing herself by slamming her fists into one another, ready to start the fight that she knew was completely inevitable in the next minute or so.

"They better have." Weiss knelt down by the river. Submerging her hands into it, it was cold, and not exactly clean either. She swore she could feel moss on the banking, but she didn't allow this discomfort to stop her.

She looked towards Yang, who nodded.

And Weiss activated her power, stopping the particles from moving in the water and freezing the river in its tracks. It started very small, just around Weiss' hands to start with, a layer of ice freezing over her skin, but soon, it began to spread, caking the entire top layer of the water in an icy sheen within moments.

While this looked frozen, it certainly wasn't. The underneath of this thin layer of frozen water was just the tip – Any escape attempts by naval passage would easily manage to break this ice. This wouldn't even support a single person's weight. To freeze it down to the bottom, Weiss was going to need a lot more time to complete her goal.

Weiss worked as quickly as possible, trying to freeze the water as much as she could, when Team Freezerburn realized that Primals had spotted them, and had sent several of their goons towards them at speed already. That had been expected, but Weiss wasn't even close to being finished. They probably wanted to take both Yang and Weiss alive first, to see if they could get information from them.

Ruby and Blake hadn't shown up to tell them to cancel the operation either, so there wasn't any doubt.

These guys had to be White Fang, or someone just as bad.

For Yang, that was more than enough. "Keep up what you're doing, Weiss, I'll take care of these guys!"

The first Primal was charging towards the two of them while generating some sort of fire from his elbows giving him an incredible level of speed. Yang didn't even flinch for a moment, unleashing a huge detonation along her entire back, jumping her forward a good few meters to meet this opponent head on. The blonde girl dug her foot into the ground as she came to a sudden stop, and unleashed a series of explosions from her right elbow, propelling her first fist into the Primals stomach. Another series of explosions came from her elbow as she rocketed her fist in deeper. One explosion, two explosion, three explosion.

Finally, she unleashed a massive detonation from her fist which carried all the momentum that she had built up to that point and sent the initial Primal flying back across the route that he had gone down, sending him flying a solid fifteen meters backwards and five meters in the air.

Replacing the one that just got knocked back, two came into view, one already activating a power that allowed him to generate huge blades from underneath his skin, while the other one was preparing some kind of fireball that she would use to try to burn Yang into cinders. Yang unleashed another explosion, this time focused on her left leg, propelling herself towards the two at a high speed.

She managed to soar over one of the Primals, the male one in this case, grab him by the hair, and drag him off the ground by pure force and strength. She unleashed another explosion and threw the male into the ground below her, knocking him out in an instant. The female spun with impressive reflexes, ready to unleash an attack, to which Yang propelled herself again towards her target, and used a flurry or hand-to-hand punches and kicks to weaken her target, before she generated another explosion to finish off the target.

She was the team's main fighter for a reason – She was damn good at it. Weiss reminded herself to compliment ruby's older sister on her fighting once they were out of this mess.

Right now though, she had to focus on her own job.

* * *

Blake had screwed up. It wasn't the worst thing that she'd ever done, but it was enough of a screw up that she and Ruby weren't in the most ideal position in the world. It might be one of the more stupid mistakes she'd made. She was stealth orientated. She should have known better.

She'd known her mistake the very second that she made it.

Ten minutes of sneaking and being as stealthy as possible had earned them two titbits of information. The first being that the Primal's here did indeed have an airship, which they were able to disable with relative ease. All the Shadow Trait user had to do was cut the wires from the accelerator, and the job was done. Considering that the place was dimly lit, her Shadows had been able to move to cut the wires without any major difficulty whatsoever.

Ruby had complimented her on her work, and the two began their task of finding out any information that they could out of the targets. Listening for anything that would give them away as White Fang, excluding the masks, or the [plans that the White Fang had.

So far, they had identified two Primals by name, one with messy, curly red hair, who went by the name of Fliesch. He was the one whom Blake had been able to identify as having a second thumb on each of his hands. He seemed to be immensely apathetic and neutral in this whole affair, not really caring one way or the other about the goals of the White Fang, even showing signs of resentment towards the organisation he was now a part of. There wasn't a lot of logic there.

The other one seemed to be named Niiro, who sounded a lot more enthusiastic about the work that they were doing. He had black hair, with a large clump that covered his left eye, which was dyed a dark red colour, similar to the style of hair ruby had, only more centralised. Along his arms, dark scars and cuts along his wrists were evident, like he'd taken a knife to his own body. Despite the differences in philosophy between them about the work they were doing, they seemed to be on good terms, although he shared one particular opinion with Fleisch well.

He hated the Faunus. Both of them truly seemed to hate the Faunus with an absolute passion.

As a species, Primals were the only race that were treated even worse than the Faunus. Their animalistic origins gone, they were out-casted and hated as much as the Faunus were to Humans, and even more so by their own origin species themselves. They were the once race on the planet the Faunus were able to discriminate against.

And Blake wasn't proud to say that she knew her people had jumped at the opportunity. But this didn't make sense.

If they hated the Faunus, why were they working for the White Fang? They couldn't be planning something like betrayal, like a combing or something along those lines, the Faunus centric group had way too many members worldwide to make that even slightly manageable. They'd be hunted down faster than a Grimm in the middle of Atlas, so even trying that was stupid. Blake had managed to evade such a fate due to her enrolment at Beacon, a place very out of the reach of the Faunus cell.

Well, it had been, anyway.

Listening to their conversation was painful – Especially when they started talking about the students at Beacon.

"You know which one pisses me off?" Fleisch asked, his hand absent minded in his asking, messing with some pen that he was spinning between his fingers. With his second thumb, he was quite adept at doing so.

"I'm sure you'll tell me." Responded Niiro, stacking a box atop the pile he'd been working on for the past ten minutes, long before Ruby and Blake had Teleported inside.

"Those Team QRTZ and Team RWBY bastards."

Sending a glance at one another, Ruby and Blake kept listening, not entirely sure if they had been discovered or not. There wasn't any indication to suggest as much at that moment, so they didn't bail on the operation quite yet.

"Team QRTZ? What's wrong with those guys?" Niiro questioned as he tried to neatly arrange all the boxes so they stacked together atop one another exactly, so no corners were sticking out or one of the edges was leaning over the side of one of the boxes below. What was in those boxes was anyone's guess. "Aside from being so freakin' pleased with themselves."

"They're a Human, a Faunus, a Primal and an Abnormal all in one team. It annoys me."

"The fact that there's one of every sentient race on the planet in a team annoys you?"

"Damn right it does." Fleisch spat. "What, they just threw them all in one team to say _'No really, we're all equal here, look, here's our finest freaks of nature together to prove we're all buddy-buddy together.'_ Like that's gonna stop the Faunus from stomping down on us."

Shrugging, the other Primal stepped back to grab another box. "I guess so. They did promise equality between the humans and the Faunus after the war, lotta good that did 'em. Humans're a bunch of pricks, but you'd think the Faunus would understand our position a bit more."

"Hence why I hate that lot in Team RWBY."

"What, cause they're Human? I'm having a little trouble following your logic here, Fleisch."

"Oh yeah, the one that keeps a bow on top of their head, speaks up the Faunus to the Humans, can see in the dark, follows laser pointers and is afraid of dogs is definitely a Human."

"Wait, the one in black? She's a Faunus?"

"What kind of Primal even are you? Of course she's a freaking Faunus! Playing friendly with the Humans and goes on about how proud the Faunus should be and how they shouldn't have to hide, while hiding herself. She's a hypocrite and it pisses me off."

Niiro paused for a second, before he opened the box he was about to carry and rummaged around in the contents, all while seeming to mutter to himself. "What a shame. I woulda tapped that if she weren't."

What he pulled out was what caused Blake to take a slightly sharped inhale than she normally would do. Produced from the box, was a device known as a Nullifier. They were still in prototype stages, but Blake knew that the White Fang had been working on this sort of technology for a long time, and if the entirety of this warehouse was filled with Nullifiers, then it couldn't be good at all.

A Nullifier – A machine designed to completely nullify any and all superpowers within a fifty meter radius of its location. They didn't work yet… But these devices could help cause untold devastation. Heroes without their powers…

An entire superhero school without their powers…

As soon as Blake took that sharper breath, she realized the mistake she made.

"Tell you what, Niiro." Fleisch said, now standing upright, looking a bit peppier than he did not ten seconds along. "How's this sound for an idea - Tap whoever the hell _this_ is."

Flinging his arm towards Blake and Ruby's location, Fleisch's arm suddenly disconnected from his body, instead turning into an orangey, gooey, gelatine glue like substance, speeding towards the two teammates like a bullet from a rifle. His entire arm had just left his body, instead now moving on its own, and attacking the two members of Team RWBY like a homing missile.

Ruby reacted first, quickly, she Teleported both her and Blake to the ground level, on the floor from the rafters in which they had concealed themselves. Both girls were on their hands and knees as they stopped, quickly picking themselves up as they reappeared on the ground floor, in front of Fleisch and Niiro.

"Well, look who the hell it is!" Fleisch suddenly began to grin like a maniac, his yellow eyes suddenly seeming to gleam as he laid eyes upon the two Heroes-In-Training like himself. "We were just talking about you!"

"We heard." Blake responded deadpanned.

"Oh, this is gonna be _fun_!" the Primal grinned. "You want to take the midget there, Niiro? The Faunus is _mine_."

"Done." The other Primal agreed, his hands suddenly clawed and rigid, almost in a manner similar to that of Yang's, only a bit looser around the finger regions.

It was Ruby who launched the first attack, recklessly charging in with Kinetic Speed. Without reference to what her opponents had as their Primality's, it was a very foolhardy move, but one that Ruby made completely regardless of that knowledge. Without making a move whatsoever, they were definitely going to be at a disadvantage, and if her sparring lessons with Yang and Weiss had taught her anything, it was that the person who attacked first had the advantage a lot of the time.

Not all of the time, but a lot of it.

With speed that threatened to pummel her chosen target into the next dimension, Ruby was by no means restricted to having to attack Niiro. For now, she'd has a slightly better glimpse at what Fleisch's Primality was – some sort of glue like deal – Which meant that her physical attacks weren't going to be useful against that sort of power, so Niiro was the logical choice anyway.

What she didn't account for was how quickly this Primal could move. Using his physical strength, Niiro ducked down with such speed that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. A second later, his hand slammed into Ruby's clothing.

And that was when Ruby began to bleed from the wounds this inflicted upon her.

"Araaaaahh!"

Everything was cutting into her – Her cloak, her cape, everything that wasn't directly hit by Niiro was suddenly sharp like knifes, slicing through her clothes and skin deeply. Frantically, she Teleported, leaving her cloak and cape behind her. Her wounds were deep, slicing through the jacket she wore, now soaked with her blood, she looked at the Primal she had collapsed behind, and not sure of what the hell had just happened to her.

"Ruby!" Blake attempted to run over, only to be blocked by a moving wobbling pile of jelly-like meat manipulated over to her by Fliesch, acting like some kind of warning sign to stay away.

"Looks like your clothes are a bit pointy for you." Niiro grinned, revealing a set of very sharp teeth. His hands were stilled clawed, though his fingers wriggled as he showed off his weapons, "You want to fight me naked? Can't promise that'll be enough though. People tend to get cut up with me."

Niiro Sarusaku – Primality – Sharp – Niiro has the ability to turn anything he touches, be it an object, clothing, or even a person's body, sharp, enough to cute atoms in two. He can apply this to anything. The only exception to this rule is himself, as he is not able to turn his own body sharp. With this exception, he is completely free to use his power as he sees fit. Overuse, however, will cause deep cuts to appear on his wrists and arms.

"What the hell – What's going on?!"

"The rivers freezing over!"

From the calls of the other Primals in the room, both the members of Team RWBY realized that their teammates must have begun their attack – Frankly, at this moment, it was perfect. Had they not launched their own assault, then the mission could have been a bust, given that the stealth element had been completely lost.

"Weiss must have started on her part of the plan!" Ruby said to Blake with a smile on her face, which Blake returned. They hadn't screwed up too badly then, but this still wasn't ideal.

"Okay, change of plans, I think." Said the Primal who now lacked his left arm to his colleague. "Niiro, you go help deal with the intruders back there, whoever they are. I'm gonna deal with these two myself."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Fleisch grinned. "I see two piles of meat in front of me that are practically begging me to consume them, and one of them's a Faunus – Yeah, I'm sure that I want this all to myself."

The Sharp Primality user nodded, and made a beeline right for the rest of his Primal and Faunus teammates, all rushing towards Team Freezerburn with the intention of stopping whatever was going on behind the warehouse.

"Ruby, you go to Weiss and Yang!" Blake yelled over, activating her Shadow Trait and producing a large number of tendrils, ready to take on the prejudicial Primal in front of her, matching him inch for inch in terms of not only height, but pure power display with their superpowers. Blake's Shadows were as large and as thick as Fleisch's jelly-like substance, and seemed to be equally as powerful, if judged by appearances alone.

"You sure?!"

"Yes, I'm certain!" It was Blake's fault that they were even in this mess. It felt only right to her that she took care of the problem that she started.

Without needing more persuasion, and apparently knowing that it would have been fairly pointless to even attempt to convince Blake otherwise, Ruby Teleported out of the area to try to help Team Freezerburn, leaving Blake to face the Primal alone.

"Why do you have those Nullifiers?" The Faunus girl questioned, producing another tendril from the darkness, and positioning it above her head, ready to make a downward strike when she felt like she had an opening. "Those were never developed past their prototype stages."

"You'd be surprised with what the Schnee Design Company will do if you offer them enough money. At least the workers, anyway. Give an elite enough cash, and they'll do anything you ask." Taunted the Primal, knowing fully well that the company he named had been responsible for lots of controversy regarding Blake's race. "If you want to know why we have them, let's play a game – If you survive getting swallowed, I'll tell you."

Fleisch then attacked.

* * *

In a short second, everything around then had changed almost instantly. Yang had been very easily beating down her attackers, of which three were Primals, and two were Faunus. Her Trait was immeasurably stronger than all of their combined, allowing her to generate explosion after explosion, the White Fang members or sympathisers, whatever they were, only continuing to fight out of sheer determination and stubbornness.

Weiss had managed to do the best job she would be able to do. The river was now frozen up to ten inches down, enough to not only freeze the laze solid, but enough to also freeze the engine on the naval boat to the point where it wouldn't even start. Her job was complete, and she'd done it perfectly.

The next step in her job was to help Yang, something that wouldn't be difficult to do once she had regulated her body temperature. Though she couldn't feel the cold on her body, she was able to see the ice that had formed on her skin. Her blood flow has slowed down, so she began to heat her body up as quickly as possible, trying to heat her body to the point where she would be healthy and able to move again.

In one second, that was completely gone.

Somehow - It had to have been some kind of knockout type power, Weiss felt every single bone in her entire body become as heavy as an anvil. It was instantaneous, from zero to one hundred in less than a second. Her bones increased in mass, or something such as that occurred, Weiss didn't know.

Her mind suddenly became a mess as she collapsed to the ground.

What had happened?

Somehow she was able to turn her head to look over to Yang, who had somehow managed to be taken down and wounded, a huge, bloody now going down the side of her left arm. For some reason, she wasn't using her Trait to keep fighting, which didn't make even the slightest bit of sense.

Were her powers out of energy? Was she out of energy?

Weiss didn't even get to question her own answers again before she suddenly felt herself being kicked in the side of the head by the Faunus she had spotted with a dragon tail earlier. Red eyes indicated a visual Quirk similar to Yang's, and the growling indicated hatred towards her specifically. "Fucking Schnee!"

Another kick landed on the side of Weiss' head. Her disguise hadn't done much to help her in this scenario. This Faunus probably had a particular vendetta against the Schnee family for whatever reason. Perhaps her father's work had affected this person directly. It was weird. Weiss didn't feel much pain from each kick to the face, but she knew that there should be pain there. She could feel the blood dripping down the side of her face.

She almost felt relaxed. Was this a side effect of the power she had been affected by?

As the seventh kick came barrelling in, Weiss saw rose petals appear behind her attacker, who suddenly went flying across the ground like he'd just been smacked by a tornado.

"Weiss!"

Ruby's voice

"Weiss, are you okay?!" The younger girl knelt down by her partner to inspect the damage those kicks had done to her. Except for the cuts and bruises that had been built up on, Weiss didn't seem to be that badly injured.

It was as Ruby pulled Weiss up to try and put her head on her lap that she noticed that Yang was now back in action, but wasn't using her left arm whatsoever. Perhaps she had just been badly injured and caught off guard, of had been under the effects of the same power that she had been under. Yang was attacking now with an absolute fury now, battering down each and every opponent that she saw with some of the largest and most concentrated explosions Weiss had ever seen her generate.

"I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt." She responded honestly, her brain still a complete mess right now.

"That's – That's normally a good sign, right? I still think you need a band-aid or something though."

"I don't think that's going to cover up the wounds, Ruby."

"Probably not." The Team leader chucked nervously. She was able to tell that her partner wasn't in any mortal danger. The kicks weren't even close to being that serious, but when the Schnee regained her sense of pain, she was not going to be happy about it.

Before Ruby could move Weiss to a safer area though, the wall of the building she had been inside of not thirty seconds ago obliterated as the same jelly-like substance smashed its way through solid concrete and brick, making way for the Primal Fleisch to make his exit, with the same grin on his face as he left.

Blake was nowhere to be seen.

The only thing that Ruby could do was swallow down her worries about her teammate and focus on moving Weiss. She didn't want to Teleport her away because she knew that it could cause sickness, and the last thing Weiss needed right now was to be sick as well as bleeding from the side of the face.

Yang didn't even know what had happened in the warehouse, but she had charged right in to attack this new enemy, using her explosions to propel herself forward at speeds she was convinced that her enemy wouldn't be able to follow her movements.

She was right, but it also was a mistake.

The current of what was Fleisch's Primality suddenly moved in front of him – Revealing Blake as being trapped within the substance. He revealed only her face, and nothing else. Her mouth was covered, completely silencing the Faunus girl who was clearly trying to scream at Yang something or other

Yang stopped using her Trait, and cancelled her attack when she saw Blake's face.

It resulted in her being slammed into the gut by the substance.

Fleisch Cartilage – Primality – Meat Grinder – Fleisch's Primality allows him to turn his own flesh, and the flesh of any meat-based substance he touches, be it alive or dead, into a jelly-like substance which he can manipulate. He can make this substance either hard as rocks, sticky, or incredibly soft, and he can add to this substance by engulfing other flesh-based objects or people within it. This also extends to entire people. The more flesh that he can control, the more powerful his abilities become, but the harder it is to control. A downside to this power is that while he uses his own flesh as a weapon, it tears itself off from his body, and has to be reattached at a later point. This does not hurt him, however, and can easily be redone. When his power deactivated, the people and objects he has manipulated return to their original forms.

It became all too apparent that Blake had been captured and engulfed within the Primal's Meat Grinder ability, and he had used her connections to her team against Yang, whom he had predicted would not go through her to attack him. He'd then used the opportunity to unleash a devastating blow onto Yang, knocking her back towards Ruby and Weiss' location, skidding to a halt just before colliding with them.

Ruby looked at Weiss, Yang, and then to Blake, who she could see was fighting like holy hell against the trap that she was in. How he had managed to out-speed her, Ruby had no idea. Somehow he had done it though, and he was relishing in the fact that he had.

"I can freeze him." Weiss suggested, though her bones still felt heavy like metal. "If I freeze him, he might have to let Blake go."

Right now, a full on attack was completely impossible, and everyone knew it. As long as Blake was being used as a meat shield, there wasn't anything that they could do.

At least, they didn't think that they could do. For one member of the team, something suddenly clicked.

Her friends battered and broken all around her…

Blake, being used as a shield…

Yang, battered like she'd never seen her sister before.

Weiss…

"Don't bother." Ruby suddenly said, standing up onto her feet upright. "I'll deal with him."

"Ruby, what are you – "Yang was the first one to respond, but she quickly became silent when she saw Ruby's eyes. When Weiss was able to see them too, any thoughts she had of protesting against Ruby's plan completely disintegrated into thin air.

Her eyes were on fire. They were literally small balls of white flame, bellowing and dancing in her eye sockets.

Ruby screamed, and the fire bellowed.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a day late, and is itself fairly late at the time of publishing this, but I had a lot of stuff I wanted to cover in this chapter. Now, I wonder what you guys shall be thinking of this here chapter. Lots of development in the story occurred, so next chapter we'll be getting a lot of character development as well.
> 
> There are links to the canon now, but I have an explanation for this in the AU itself that I think you guys will like. I wonder if any of you can guess. The information for the answer is all technically in the story – Let's see how many of you are observant enough to find it ^_^
> 
> And for those of you who know my hatred of Blake – Honestly, this is an occurrence where she's just a meat shield because it made SENSE in the planning stage. I pretty much just flipped a coin and Blake got the losing side, so yeah, my hatred of her has nothing to do with her being almost worthless this chapter. There are story explanations for her surprise, of which you will find out later.
> 
> Since Villain OC's are kind of a requirement for this sort of thing, there's only really three that I plan on keeping around. I'll go over their names here.
> 
> Fleisch Cartilage – Fleisch is German for the word flesh, or meat, which makes one think of an orange or red sort of colour, which is why he falls into the RWBY colour guide. Cartilage is a bone tissue, which relates to his powers, and is also a yellowy type colour.
> 
> Niiro Sarusaku – Niiro is the Japanese word for Red. It comes from his eyes and hair dye. His Power Sharp is one of my favourites.
> 
> At any rate, they won't be showing up constantly. Maybe once or twice more, depends how I feel. Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this story, and I'll see you next time in whatever it is I write next. See ya guys ^_^


	8. Change And Love

Eyes burning, and fierce breathing, Ruby barely even looked recognisable. Flames from her optical sensors were spreading across her entire face, stopping just above her top lip, creating a mask of white fire. A glowing golden ball where her eyes should have been emitted an eerie light from the fire mask. Her teeth were bare, and her hair was waving like the young girl had been placed on top of a fan, blasting out in all directions. She was angry. That in itself was something that took a lot to achieve. She could normally keep herself calm and collected in situations like this, but for her to become this purely angry...

She looked like a monster.

Weiss and Yang could only look at their team leader with wide eyes, jaws dropped, and utter disbelief in what the hell they were looking at right now. Weiss's brain was running at about a thousand miles an hour, while Yang's refused to even work, not able to comprehend what was happening to her sister. Had Blake been able to speak in this situation, she wouldn't have been capable of doing so out of her own surprise. None of them knew what to think. What could they think? This was...

This was unheard of. A third Trait? That wasn't possible, it didn't exist! Tests had been run, during the experimental era of Traits, when there was an obsession over Humanity's next evolutionary mark, and a thousand times over, again and again, and each one had come back with the exact same results - It simply wasn't possible. Every test that theory and simulation suggested that if a Human could develop a third Trait, their body wouldn't be able to handle the strain. It would tear the body apart because it contained far too much destructive power! It would drive them insane, even if their body didn't rip itself inside out!

Ruby was already an exceptionally rare case. A dual Trait only occurred in about one and a half percent of the world's population. A recessive gene in the body that mutated to become dominant, and could only overpower genes that were dominant themselves, and then return to its recessive state, it was a gene that required insane luck, incredibly specific circumstances, and more pure luck. It simply couldn't be replicated. One in about ten thousand people had a chance to even gain the mutation! The actual chance to develop the second ability was even lower.

But a third power was, even theoretically, totally impossible.

This simply wasn't possible.

And yet here it was.

Even the Primal enemies that they were facing were totally blown away by this revelation. Any smug grins or self-confident posturing that was going on was totally abandoned in place of shock and surprise that mirrored Team RWBY's almost exactly. This wasn't what was on their agenda. They hadn't planned for this. No one could have planned for this.

"You're freakin' kidding me." The Primal identified as Niiro commented, his sharpened teeth gritted and shown. "She's one of those freaking things?!"

It was impossible to figure out what was meant by that, but Weiss' brain refused to stop attempting to, although it came up completely blank. There just wasn't a way that she was able to justify or even theorise. A Human with multiple powers like this just didn't have any sort of explanation.

Did Ruby even know what she was doing? Had she been aware of whatever was happening to her from the start? For years? Had she hidden this?

Was she even aware of what was happening to her right now?

Ruby was undoubtedly Human. So what was going on?

For what felt like the longest second in all of existence, nothing moved. No one breathed, no one even dared to flinch for the intensity of the situation. Unsure of what should happen, there wasn't a single person who was willing to make the first move.

Suddenly, Ruby attacked.

Utilising the speed that her Kinetic Speed Trait gave her, she charged forward, leaving a trail of fire behind her as she darted towards her targets with unparalleled speed and manoeuvrability. She was far faster than she had been before though, far faster than she had ever been, even on her best of days. Her movement too was far more sporadic and confusing than she ever was on her best days. She was in front of the Primal group, then to the side, then above, and then behind, in front again and in the middle of them, leaping from location to location like she was using Teleportation, except she was building up more and more speed with each jump, building up more Kinetic energy than her Trait did to activate.

It made her impossible to track. The only thing that could be followed was the white lines of flame she left in her midst, leaving a trail of where she had been, and was moving with such haste, it was impossible for the naked eye to even begin to follow her. She was little more than a white trail, and a red blur, speeding and criss-crossing previous locations all around the confused Primal group, who couldn't do anything to stop it from happening.

"Fleisch!" One of the Primals yelled, calling for their Meat Grinder user to do something, since he presumably had the best chance to cause Ruby some damage, or at the least slow her down with their power.

Said Primal moved instantly, using the meat shield he had made of Blake and his own flesh as thick as he could, and manipulated it around his comrades like a semi-dome before Ruby could make any attempts to strike them directly. He protected their front, in an effort to defend them from any potential attacks from what was left of Team RWBY while they were distracted, not that they needed to bother. At this point, he was acting out of reflex, his battle training speaking for him instead of any rapidly required aid, or anything else that someone else might have considered to be a higher priority.

It never quite got past the semi-dome, however. As the protective layer was being formed, without explanation, a huge giant hole appeared, taking a large chunk of flesh with it. It defied any rational logic that Fleisch knew when it came to his powers. He sure knew he hadn't commanded such an action to take place.

A second later, Ruby reappeared, Blake in tow, by the remainder of her team. Blake was struggling to gather any breath whatsoever, but she was, relatively speaking, okay aside from this, there was none of the orange gelation-like flesh on her body, nor was there any on Ruby's. Despite having charged right through a huge chunk of the stuff, Ruby had moved so quickly, it hadn't been able to react, or even stick to her person naturally, like a glue. Ruby's speed was just too great. Any that had managed to stay onto them had been blown off by the wind resistance barely a second afterwards, leaving both of them totally free.

"Blake!" Reacting despite her injuries, Yang moved over to Blake, pulling her closer towards the group and away from Ruby, who was on the warpath at this point. She'd never seen her sister take such an aggressive stance in all her life. Blake needed treatment before she could focus on the state of her sister.

Not that any was needed. Whatever Meat Grinder was as a power, it didn't seem to injure the people that were added to the mass of meat, unless it was specifically willed. Healthy flesh seemed to be better for the gelatinous monster wave of manipulated meat, while battered and bruised seemed to be less effective. Using a totally unharmed Blake as a meat shield made more sense than beating her bloody and then adding her.

That was the only explanation that made sense as to why Blake, aside from her shock and lack of oxygen, seemed to be totally fine. She managed to take a few gulps of oxygen, using Yang as a support while she did so.

"Stay back." Ruby's voice had dropped an octave or three, and she didn't even sound close to her normally peppy and energetic voice. Instead, she sounded far, far darker, like she was filled with murderous intent.

Was she acting on instinct?

"Ruby, what are you -" Before Weiss' question could even leave her mouth, a huge gust of wind bellowed back towards the team as Ruby used her speed to charge forward again, this time, without any restraint.

Blake wasn't in the line of fire anymore. Ruby had acted in such a way that she would be able to free Blake from being their living shield, so now, the Primals had no leverage whatsoever. There wasn't anything they could do to stop Ruby and the rest of her team from unleashing barrage after barrage against them.

Not that they even needed to.

Fleisch moved the fastest, trying to attack using his flesh to stop Ruby dead in her tracks. The meat began to move, only spiking up lightly from the floor, before it was abruptly stopped. As Ruby had charged forward, she had grabbed hold of the Meat Grinder Primal, and tackled him in the chest, knocking the air right out of him, and sending him flying back a distance of twenty meters, making him slam right back into the warehouse where Ruby and Blake had first encountered him.

Next, Ruby's newfound power, whatever it was, activated. From her flaming eyes, a huge beam of white light suddenly erupted like a huge laser beam, obliterating absolutely anything that she looked at while it was in use. One second, the warehouse was there.

The next, it had been blown into utter oblivion. The entire building suddenly ignited into a massive explosion, raining down shards of metal and debris for a huge radius around it, enough to totally encapsulate Team RWBY and the Primals both in the small scraps that were left.

The young girl didn't hesitate for a second though, making her next move before the explosion had even finished. She Teleported right behind the Primal's, and used her power once again, aiming directly for the centre of them all, blasting them all totally in different directions, where she began to pick them off one by one.

One of them, she just used a combination of Teleporting above them, and then using Kinetic Speed downward, slamming them into the ground to knock them cold out of the fight immediately. This one, none of Team RWBY even knew the name of, but it was clear that he was out for the count.

The one that used Sharp as an ability, Niiro, prepared to use the power to wound Ruby and cut her down from her rampage, but he never even got the chance. As he was being blasted away and prepared himself, Ruby appeared behind him, and activated whatever her optical powers were, blasting him in the spine and into the floor that for a second, he thought he was dead.

Ruby kept changing targets, beating down the ones that were remaining standing, or in this case falling, and making sure that they didn't get back up. Her ruthlessness was making her totally unrecognisable, merciless and totally different to what she really was, who she really was. Each strike was precise and deadly, every movement was efficient and calculating.

Was she acting on instinct, or was she aware that she was doing this?

Her team could only watch her go, taking on every one of their enemies like she was an overpowered one woman army, utterly crushing anything that even tried to remain on its feet when she was around. Truthfully, it was actually terrifying just how much power Ruby was showing off. She was acting and using her powers, even her default Traits, not even including whatever the hell else she had mixed in with her, to absolutely devastating effects. Yang couldn't dish out this sort of damage even if she was continuously setting every single part of her body on fire, how Ruby was managing to do this was totally beyond the team's ability to comprehend.

"That... That is Ruby, right?..." Yang questioned, unable to even recognise her own sister. This ability to cause destruction was... Frankly, it was immense. It topped even Yang's ability. She'd never seen this before, even when Ruby became infuriated. She never was this brutal.

"You mean, you don't know what this is?" Weiss questioned, while she was helping tend to Blake.

"How the hell would I have known that Ruby was capable of that?!" Snapped the Explosive Impact Trait user, her eyes flashing red for a brief moment before she considered, what else could Weiss assume? Ruby was supposed to be her sister, so of course it made sense for her to assume that Yang knew something about the situation. "I've never seen this before... I was shocked enough when her Dual Trait activated. I didn't think she had... This..." She made an odd gesture with her right hand, unsure of what it was that she was trying to convey herself. "Whatever... That is."

Interrupted by Blake suddenly coughing loudly as her lungs refilled themselves, the blonde and white haired girls quickly shifted their focus away from Ruby and onto their struggling teammate.

"Easy, Blake." Instructed Yang, allowing her partner to use her as some sort of leaning post. It became quickly apparent that having been cut off from the ability to inhale, combined with what must have been one short but intense fight inside what used to be the storage warehouse had left the Faunus girl totally dehydrated and her throat dry, unable to form any words due to such parch. "Weiss, water."

Abiding by Yang's request, the Schnee heiress quickly reached for the canteen she had been keeping hold of and handed it to Blake, who drunk her entire way through what was left of the water inside like a suffering destructive alcoholic would a bottle of vodka.

After letting out a huge breath of air, and inhaled a few more times, Blake managed to find her voice. Though it was a bit more shaky than normal. "Hah... Thanks. That Primal... He got me with his power at range. Turns out, he only needs to get a small... Small amount of flesh on you. He only... He got maybe a thumbs worth of meat on me."

"And I thought you were good at stealth."

"Don't be cute, Yang. These guy are tough, and they've got equipment that worries me."

"I don't think they're going to be much of a problem in a few minutes." Weiss reminded Yang, and informed Blake, pointing a single finger towards the devastation that Ruby was causing at will.

Though Blake had managed to see the activation of whatever it was that was making Ruby's eyes glow like flames, she hadn't yet had the opportunity to look at just how much power their team leader was now displaying. Fire and ice, explosions and craters littered the place, and Ruby was still darting around like a rubber ball thrown past terminal velocity.

"What the?..."

"As far as I've been able to tell, she's using some kind of optical ability, and that its effects seem to be varying depending in the targets that she's using them on." Weiss explained, her thinking made clear. "I... I don't know how she's doing it. It doesn't make any sense."

As she finished speaking, Ruby had finished pounding the last Primal that she saw into a crater of ice from where Weiss had frozen the lake. The more traditional combination of Teleportation and Kinetic Speed had done the trick against that particular target, finishing him off with a nice clean strike down.

Her eyes still burned though, like the sun. Her anger was still as clear as day, and whatever was flowing through her body, be it power, adrenaline, or otherwise, it was still going strong, throughout every single vein that she possessed.

And all of a sudden, it just stopped.

Ruby's eyes suddenly went out, and every shred of anger that she seemed to possess just dulled out, her silver eyes returning to normal, exhaustion clear in the girls eyes, like all the energy had just been drained from her completely. All structure just collapsed, and she seemed to have issues with breathing, taking long, deep breaths, though not regaining any oxygen.

Now that she thought about it... Weiss couldn't feel her Trait activating, even though she was trying to create water for Blake. She normally felt a small amount of pressure as she used the power, a bit like a muscle in her mind. Though she was doing the actions and movements needed to activate her Trait, she didn't feel the muscle feedback response.

Now that she looked, her Trait wasn't activating. At all.

No flame, no ice, no water. No nothing. It simple wasn't activating whatsoever. Like it wasn't even there.

"Hah. Not so tough without your powers, are you?"

The same voice from before, it was revealed to be the Meat Grinder power holder, Fleisch. Somehow, he'd survived the brutal detonation that Ruby had caused the warehouse to go up in. His left arm seemed scorched, so Weiss guessed that he'd used his own flesh as a protective layer to withstand the blast from Ruby's optical powers. If he was able to withstand them, then it hinted that, aside from their visual brilliance, and how much of a shock it was, something amazing.

Her newfound abilities weren't as strong as they appeared to be. The explosion that the attack caused... Sure it looked deadly... But if the Primal could survive it, then it was weaker than expected. Far weaker.

Within the same scorched hand that the Primal had, the cold metallic sheen of steel shone in the moonlight. Some sort of contraption, about the same size as a baseball was being clutched like the Meat Grinder user was clinging onto it for dear life. His face though, suggested otherwise. His teeth were showing as he grinned, and his vast array of muscles twitched and tensed, like he was ready to attack.

It was so apparent that Ruby was running with absolutely no energy, that the Primal barely even seemed like he was expecting a fight of any description. He just took a few tentative steps closer towards Ruby and made a fist with his right hand. Ruby attempted to make some sort of face-defending block stance with her arms, each of them limp and barely even capable of making a fist. She could barely even stand up, never mind carry on the fight!

"Ruby, Teleport!" Her older sister yelled at command, warning her sister to get away from the Primal, seeing she was clearly in no state to keep up fighting. "Get away from him!"

She wouldn't move though. She didn't have the strength. It was taking everything that Ruby had to just stay upright. At this point, the Primal was about five meters away from Ruby, and his intentions were clear.

Growling, Yang placed Blake down as gently as possible while still maintaining a rapid speed. Since Ruby wasn't able to defend herself, Yang threw her hands behind her, and began to activate her explosive powers, planning on using the momentum from them to propel her forward to Ruby's defence.

But her powers refused to activate.

"What the hell?!" Yang tried, again and again to activate her powers, but each time, she was denied access to her own abilities.

At the same time, Fleisch now stood directly opposite Ruby. The totally exhausted girl threw a sorry excuse of a punch towards him, trying to hit him in some small way. It was a last ditch attempt to inflict some damage, not that it did a shred of good. Instead, the Primal simply moved his head to the side.

And then landed a devastating blow to Ruby's chest.

Primal strength was different to Humans. Primal's traded in half of their powers strength for physical prowess, but this physical ability wasn't a power itself. It was totally natural.

Blake knew what that meant - With the Nullifier, Primals had a huge advantage.

"Ruby!" Weiss acted instinctively, throwing up her left arm to fire a burst of flames towards her attacker.

But it didn't do anything.

"That won't work..." From her position, Blake attempted to inform her team of the device that their enemy was holding onto. "That Primal has a Nullifier."

"What's that supposed to be?"

"It's a device the White Fang developed... It... It cancels out powers."

"It does what?!" Yang seemed to react with the most shock to the revelation. Weiss had figured it out, but had attempted to activate her own power anyway.

"The Nullifier... It works by releasing a bandwidth that attacks certain receptors in the brain. The same ones that cause our powers to activate at will... When the bandwidth hits your brain, the receptors shut down, and you can't use your powers." Explained the Faunus girl as briefly as she could. "It has a radius of a hundred meters... They're powerful devices. And a Primal has physical strength even without their powers... So that gives them a huge advantage against Humans."

The sickening sound of kick based gut-strike, followed by Ruby essentially vomiting due to the sheer impact of the attack, filled the otherwise cold and silent air. Each strike brutally hit the young girl like a brick. And there wasn't anything that the team could do to stop it from happening.

Blake was injured. No physical damage, but she wasn't going to be able to leap into combat, so she wasn't moving, as was Yang. Even if Yang had her Trait, her arm injury was going to cause her a huge level of personal damage. That wouldn't have stopped her, but she didn't have a whole lot she could do without them.

Without their powers, they didn't have anything that they could do. Nothing realistic, anyway.

Nothing that they could honestly expect to achieve without their powers.

But Weiss charged anyway. And Yang followed exactly a quarter of a second later.

Both of them were fully aware of the fact this was probably do nothing but cause them to lose, and probably either get them crippled, or get them killed, but there wasn't any registration needed for the two of them. Had Blake been able to move, there wouldn't have been any on hers either. But she had provided Yang with her utility belt, filled up with all sorts of useful items that didn't require superpowers.

Team RWBY stuck together, and they weren't about to just let Ruby keep taking these beatings, no matter what the hell she had done, or even if they were freaked out by the utter obliteration she had caused. Ruby was their team leader, their friend.

She was family, even excluding Yang and hers blood ties.

Weiss took the right flank, moving as fast as she could possibly move, her shorter stature translated to her not being the fastest member of their team without powers, but she was sprinting like a champion in that moment. Yang took the left, reaching into the utility belt given by Blake, and produced a small capsule, black in its colouring. A smoke pellet, filled to the brim with the ingredients needed to cause a huge smokescreen filled the contents of the tiny pellet, and all that needed to be done was for the capsule to be broken to cause the dark cloud of smoke to cover them.

With precise aim, The powerless Explosive Impact Trait user lobbed the pellet towards the Primal, and upon mere contact with him, the capsule cracked, and out from it poured and the expelled all the chemicals that it had stored in there, creating a humungous burst of smoke. When Blake designed or requested something, she made sure it was optimal for operations, just like this pellet.

Following her throw, Yang charged right into the cloud of smoke, yelling at the top of her lungs, and poised to strike with every single muscle that she had in her body. Once she entered, the sounds and grunts of combat became all too loud and clear.

Weiss followed suit shortly after, leaping towards the unseen battle, with every intention of doing whatever she could do to help Ruby. She still had to have her talk with Ruby, so her friend didn't have permission to lose this fight! There still were things that needed to be said.

As the Thermo Trait user approached the smoke, she suddenly found the smoke dissipating, blasted away by the way of hand. Pushing it aside like it were annoying regular smoke, the Primal revealed that, between him and .yang, he had easily defeated her, and now stood with her head underneath his boot, and Yang, without her powers, wasn't able to do a single thing about it. The difference in physical power between Humans and Primals was just outstanding.

Without the ability to move in the middle of the air, Weiss wasn't able to do a thing to change her course, to get away, to slow herself down, or do anything else. The only thing that she could do was keep moving forward due to momentum.

Landing her neck perfectly in the Primals death grip. As soon as her skin made contact with his, he began to crush down with hand hands with every intention of crushing the young woman's windpipe, and eventually her entire neck.

He was doing the exact same with Ruby in his other hand, but was taking his time with her, probably out of a petty desire for revenge for blowing him up in that warehouse. This Primal, Fleisch, had just taken on three of the four members of Team RWBY at once, and he was winning.

"Wonder how long it'll take me to break someone's neck with just my hand." He pondered, clearly proud of himself. "You two, you care to help me find out how long?"

"Get... Off her." Despite the pain and her windpipe being crushed, Ruby still managed to find a way to speak, even if it had been reduced to little more than a whisper. It was totally amazing that she was even still awake after everything that had happened.

But there was no fire left. She was trying, she was doing her very best to sound threatening, to prove that she wasn't going to allow Weiss to get hurt, but her body just refused.

She was done.

"I'd say, 'Make me', but without your powers, you Humans aren't too good at much, are you?" Taunted Fleisch, his grip on Ruby's throat now poised and pushing down enough that Ruby was totally unable to speak at all now, "And yet we ended up more screwed over than the Faunus. Seems a bit backwards, doesn't it?

Between the two of them, Weiss had the most energy left, and was still struggling to get out of the grip hold and do something to help her comrades, not that much good was coming of it. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Blake forcing herself to her feet, preparing a charge of her own.

Suicide.

"Some Heroes you are." The Primal grinned, making one final taunt as he prepared to finish off the girls.

Everything that happened next was a blur to Weiss, but from what she was able to see, a red mass suddenly shot out of absolutely nowhere, and, with a liquid-like form, moved and obviously was being manipulated, sharpened its edges, and slicked the hands off the Primal attacker. Surprisingly, Fleisch didn't even seem to feel pain, or much of anything for that matter, other than shock. Upon the cut, there wasn't any blood, but more rather an orange liquid like substance that his body was apparently made out of by default. With the Nullifier still activate, he wasn't able to manipulate his own powers.

So he dropped Ruby and Weiss onto the floor, and staggered away from Yang. Ruby fell straight to the floor, unconscious, while Weiss and Yang needed just a moment to regain their breaths. Returning the favour given to her barely a few moments ago, Blake ran up to help her teammates out of the horrible situation they found themselves in.

Meanwhile, a fresh barrage of assaults slammed into the Primal's sides, the red liquid smacking each point that would constitute a weak point on a target that was made up of gelatine-like flesh. Whoever was using that liquid was without the range of the Nullifier, which made what they were doing far more impressive.

"You know the downside to a device like that, right?" A voice, though far away, was heard very clearly at the end of the liquid line, almost like it was being yelled down it. "If someone stays out of it's bandwidth, it's a useless scrap of metal. My powers give me range, so your little trick of shutting down my brains power receptors isn't gonna go well for you."

"No way..." Yang muttered to herself as Blake helped her up. She recognised the voice...

It wasn't a difficult observation to make, but the liquid that was being manipulated by whoever their saviour was not regular water. It wasn't any sort of water at all, but rather, a more personal fluid.

It was blood. Whomever was defending them right now had the ability to manipulate their blood and use it as a weapon. Unhygienic as that power had to be though, it was certainly helping out the young team, and it was incredibly powerful, there couldn't be any question about that. With a range of over a hundred meters, this Trait had some serious versatility, and it was just what Team RWBY needed right now to give them an edge over the Nullifiers.

A power outside the radius could still work, and be used inside the radius. Like Teleporting from outside the radius onto the inside. That was a good loophole to be aware of.

And it seemed like Fliesch was aware of this loophole himself, but hadn't expected that the group had been so fortunate enough as to have a Hero to show up who understood how Nullifiers worked. Had they been there the entire time, or had they just been attracted by the huge explosion Ruby had set off?

Either way, the Nullifier was worthless now. If this Hero had a power that could bypass the rules of the Nullifier, and Fliesch didn't have his own ready for use, then he was the one at the disadvantage again. Humans always held the higher group as long as they had their superpowers, and that wasn't a fight that he thought he could win if he seriously attempted to.

That meant that the Nullifier was holding him back.

So he reached for his belt where he had been keeping it, and crushed it within his palms, resorting everyone with their powers once again. Weiss and Yang found their powers activating automatically, catching the Schnee heiress of fire, and causing Yang to cause some detonations in her palms.

Of course the Primal was fully aware that doing this put him at a disadvantage - If he intended to fight.

Something he had no intention of doing.

Before Yang or Weiss could even begin to think about using their powers to beat down their enemy, he activated his own power, shooting off wads of flesh in multiple directions, each one of them targeting one of his fallen comrades a piece, some of them unconscious, some of them completely aware of what was going on, but made no effort to stop their ally from doing what it was that he was doing.

With near lightning speed, the manipulated blood charged right towards the Primal.

And stopped, just an inch before it pierced a wall made of living Primal flesh.

"What's wrong?" Fleisch questioned with a grin. His move had been cold and calculating, something he and his Primal allies knew they had to be if they wanted to have even the slightest chance of being victorious in this confrontation. "I'm pretty weak. Nullifiers take a bit of time to return our powers to full, especially if we're in close range to them. You could easily take me down, if you cut through these meatbags right here."

The move had been so very carefully thought out, even if it had been just a split second. Taking Team RWBY seemed like a logical choice, but Fleisch refused to do so. Kidnapping one of them would only cause the others to give chase, and he wasn't convinced he could take all of them on if they had their powers. In fact, it wasn't a question - He knew he couldn't take the all on if they had their powers. One on one, maybe two on one, and he might have considered it.

Even if he's captured all of them, he had no doubt their resistance to his powers would be extremely high, and that eye powered girl was probably more trouble than she was worth. And even if those weren't factors, the Hero that was no doubt around the area locally was going to hunt him down and take him out the second he deactivated his Primality. Taking Team RWBY would only lead to backlashes.

They were injured, and the eye powered girl clearly needed medical attention. They would work as a distraction. If he used his own allies as meat shields, then the Hero had no reason to follow him, if he wanted to save the girl. Plus, it added on yet another benefit.

It allow him to get his comrades out of the area with minimal effort, maximum defence against the Hero, and they wouldn't lose a single member.

Frankly, from a strategic stance, it was perfect.

And the Hero was hesitating to tear through his allies, just as predicted. "Go on! Take me down! All you have to do is kill a few Primals and you've got us all as your prisoners!"

The blood didn't move at all, instead just hovering there, fined to a point, like it was ready to stab, but wouldn't actually go through with the stabbing. The person at the end of this bloodline, they didn't want to kill anyone. This Hero probably felt a certain level of duty that they had to uphold. Perhaps they were ethically motivated to be acting as a Hero. Or perhaps they just didn't want to bloody their own hands.

Whatever the reason, Fleisch had the perfect escape cover. To protect himself from behind, he risked thinning out his forward defences, and created a dome around his person, one he could still see out of through an opaque section of none-chunky flesh, but he was now defended from all angles. "Some Hero you are."

He began to take steps away from the current location. Small steps to make sure that nothing wasn't being overlooked. Careful, careful movement. It wasn't until ten minutes had passed that he risked letting his powers down.

The Hero and the girls had been gone for about Nine minutes and thirty seconds at that point.

* * *

 

Multiple powers was a prospect that, once explained to the staff, was something that required instant attention. The concept of a Human having multiple powers was something both equal parts exciting, and dangerous. If Ruby's body followed the outlined laws of power, then her body was in serious danger of ripping itself apart. Combined with the damage her body had taken in the fight, and her utter exhaustion that had left her totally unconscious, she was probably in a critical state. Of course, she was being treated by 'The best doctors in all of Vale'.

This knowledge didn't do anything to help reassure Team RWBY in any way though. All their injuries had been comparatively minor, and barely even worth mentioning. Yang's deep cut down her arm had been stitched up, and she could expect to see a fairly large scar right down the side of her limb but at least on the bright side, it wasn't anything serious. Weiss had been checked out, and aside from requiring a few band aids and plasters on her face and body, she was fine. Of all the members, Blake had the least number of injuries, so she didn't even need an inspection on her person.

But on the other hand, Ruby had to been rushed into an immediate emergency medical procedure. Healing type Traits were commonly used on those sorts of operations, so it wasn't like this was going to take too long a time. Without Traits, she might have been in operations for up to fifteen hours. With them, now she was looking at being in there for only an hour and a half.

Again though, this didn't help to worried members of her Team, all sat opposing one another in the corridor outside her surgery room. Healing Traits could go two ways – They could either completely heal a patient, or they could kill them – Many such Traits required the victim to use up stamina, adrenaline, or give up something or other in exchange for a faster healing rate.

Given Ruby's situation…

There was one question that was hanging in the air between all three unspeaking teenagers, one that none of them had an answer to, and one that none of them knew how to ask. How could they ask, and how could any of their friends know? Each of them had been just as confused as the other in this situation, and there wasn't anything that could be said, or done, to help reassure anyone else.

They were all blind.

Yang however, was the one who finally bit the bullet, and asked the question.

"What the hell was that back there?..."

Blake and Weiss both looked towards the half-sister of Ruby, seeing her violet eyes filled to the brim with worry that never seemed to suit Yang. Whenever she was around, the only things that should be expected of her were cheerful optimism, or fury if someone had managed to piss her off in the worst ways possible. But seeing her filled with such fear for her sister's well-being wasn't a look that suited her.

But it further illustrated just how insane this entire situation was. If Yang didn't know about Ruby's powers, then who did? The question if Ruby had even been aware of what had been happening to her as she violently battered down an entire squad of Primals was still open, and no one could fill in the blank answer except for the girl, who currently was being seen to by about five doctors.

"Like I said… It looked to be some sort of optic blast. Some kind of ability that had various effects depending on who or what it came into contact with." Weiss responded. "I… I haven't seen any sort of power like that before. It's unheard of in Atlas."

"When I was with the White Fang, I met a lot of people." Blake added in, revealing a small piece of her past that she normally kept quiet about regarding the White Fang. She never spoke about her time with the group unless she felt either extremely comfortable, or a duty to do so. "I met a lot of Abnormals, like that Hero who saved us, but I never met a Human or Faunus who had more than two powers. I only met one person with a Dual Trait in the White Fang, and he got arrested years ago."

"So whatever this is… It's an extremely rare, if not totally isolated incident, unique to Ruby and her alone…" Yang added onto Blake's insinuation, to which the cat Faunus nodded solemnly. The explosive Impact Trait user just rested her head in her right hand, and sighed. "Of all the people this had to happen to, it had to happen to Ruby?... I'm starting to think the world just really hates us. Specifically just us."

Danger did seem to find them at an unprecedented rate, Weiss thought to herself. They hadn't even managed to go a month without some sort of dangerous attack or incident disrupting them since arriving at Beacon. Was the world just out to get them, or was there some reason that they seemed to get the short straw every single time?

Although, she had to remember that Ruby was the one who was on the short end of the stick this time.

Whatever her powers had been, they had certainly done a lot towards helping the group out. The one Primal with Meat Grinder had been bad enough, but a squad of them might have caused some serious problems. It was thanks to Ruby that they had only had to deal with a single enemy.

Bringing her hands together to attempt to calm her nerves down, Weiss allowed herself to close her eyes, thinking of her younger partner, and what, if anything, she could do. After a few moments of scouring, she came to a simple conclusion. Right now, there wasn't anything she could do the help her, and that was a bitter pill to swallow.

The Atlas born girl felt her chest constrict at the knowledge that really, they only had themselves to blame for this. Vigilantism was illegal for this very reason, and Blake had been the one to bring news about the White Fang back to the group. Yang had been the one to jump on board with bringing them down, and Weiss hadn't tried to stop them in any way.

There were no bad guys they could spin the blame onto, and there wasn't any way to justify things to make themselves feel better.

This was…

"This is my fault." Blake suddenly admitted with a heavy sigh. With her bow lost during the fight, her feline ears bent forwards in a clear sign of her sadness and self-blame. When two pairs of eyes landed on her, she looked up weakly at the pair of them. "I was the one who wanted to go after those Primals… Because I heard about them being White Fang. I was the one who didn't mention anything about the Nullifiers to the Heroes, or to Beacon… I thought they had given up on those things, but I should have mentioned it to them anyway, to be safe. I…"

"Blake, stop." Weiss said suddenly, preventing her friend from going down this path of destruction on her own. "You couldn't have known about the Nullifiers. You said you'd left before they were being investigated again, didn't you? So that isn't your fault. And as for going after the Primals…" Weiss trailed off, before continuing again. "…We all went after them. It doesn't matter who suggested it anymore. We went as a team, and fought them like a team… So we're all at fault."

"She's right." Yang agreed, patting her hand on Blake's shoulder. Besides… we're training to be Heroes, aren't we? We aren't gonna be really good Heroes… If we don't put ourselves in danger."

"If we get to keep training to be Heroes." Blake quietly said, causing the other two girls to fall silent.

Blake had a very good point. Vigilantism was a major crime, no matter how one looked at it. And for students at Beacon to be acting like vigilantes… The punishment they would receive was destined to be sever. Ignorance wasn't an excuse either. They'd had a thousand lectures about the dangers of taking the law into one's own hands. While in the olden days, Vigilantism may have made the way for Heroes, nowadays, it could just as easily lead the way for Villainy.

They'd be lucky if they just got expelled, and not thrown into prison.

The consequences hadn't even been something either the Patch born or Atlas born girls had even considered, their worry for their team leader, each for their own various reasons, overshadowing their worry about their future careers. But now that Blake made that point, it came crashing down like a ton of bricks.

Their futures as Heroes could very well be totally trashed.

For the briefest of moments, everything that Weiss had done to even get to try to come to Beacon to train to be a Hero lashed before her. The fights she'd gotten into with her family, and the tireless training and constant combat practice. The physical training and fitness levels she'd had to achieve, and every single test that had to be overcome if she wanted to try to achieve her goal.

She saw all of that, crashing to the ground. Years of her life, thrown away in an instant, because she had gone along with this plan. Suddenly, she felt hopeless, like everything she'd ever tried to be had been all in vain, and that soon, she'd have to be dragged back to Atlas to fulfil whatever destiny that he had in mind for her. And she'd fight it until the very end, but inevitably, she would fail, her flame snuffed out by exhaustion and resignation.

But then she saw Ruby in her mind's eye, and the shattering of her Hero future seemed to just stop. Inwardly, Weiss cursed at herself for letting herself think about the future more than the here and now, and what was actually important.

"That doesn't matter." She said suddenly. "Ruby's what's important right now. We can worry about our futures once we know she's okay."

"Right."

Sudden additions of a deeper male voice caused the three teenagers to jump back for a slight second, until the recognised the man as the Hero who had saved them from their predicament. Weiss didn't recall ever catching him name, more focused on getting Ruby to someplace safe, though she was certain that Yang had mentioned his name before. An older man with a cape like Ruby's and short black hair, he wasn't the type of person who, by default, stood out. Although Yang mentioned that he was related.

Once again, Yang referred to him by name. "Uncle Qrow, where did you go?"

"I needed to let Oz know where you all were." He said, collapsing into a seat next to the blonde girl, and reaching for a flask he kept within his belt. He took a long swig of whatever was before sighing and looked at them with what could only be described as both worry and pity. "A huge explosion in the middle of the night isn't exactly the sort of thing that you can easily miss. What were you even doing out there?"

"We found out that the White Fang were recruiting Primals, and they've got some sort of device that lets them suppress our Traits."

"And Ruby?"

Yang looked away for a moment, before she explained everything that happened to her uncle, who sat there and listened to what she had to say. He didn't even particularly seem surprised that any of this had happened. Almost like he'd been expecting this sort of thing to happen for years now. After Yang had explained, he took another drink from his flask, and leaned forward.

"You're sure that she was using multiple powers? There's no chance that it was some sort of Illusion Type power?"

"Not at all." Blake confirmed. "I would have been able to tell."

"She was definitely using multiple powers… Kind of like you, actually." Compared Yang.

"If she's using as many powers as me, then she's about as Human as I am too." The older man sighed, leaning back into his chair. "Your dad isn't gonna be thrilled about this."

That statement caused both Blake and Weiss a spark of confusion, one that Weiss sought an explanation for. "You're saying you're not Human?"

"Schnee's got decent hearing. Nice." He wafted his hand like he was removing a fly from his face before he answered the Schnee girl, sardonically being sarcastic as Yang knew him to be. "Nah, I'm not a Human. Don't let my appearance trick you, I'm an Abnormal. I've got five different powers at my use."

"He mostly uses Blood Control." Yang explained. "A lot of people mistake him for being Human because he doesn't use his other powers that much."

"I use them when I need to use them." Qrow defended himself with good humour, before he sighed again. "Didn't think that Primal kid was worth using anything else on. That was a screw up. Damn it." He looked at the three girls again though, continuing with his investigation as to what they had learned. "So the White Fang is now dealing with Primals… And those same Primals were in Beacon at the same time… Oz's not gonna be happy about this. Not with Vytal so close."

The Vytal tournament… Now that Weiss stopped to think about it, that same tournament could easily be a target for the White Fang, especially if they had devices to cancel out superpowers. It would also explain why they had started to recruit Primal members to their ranks. They were members who still had a huge evolutionary advancement, without the need for any kind of superpower. Their natural strength could easily defeat a thousand unpowered Humans and Faunus, so the idea that Vytal was the target...

"Anyone want a drink?" Qrow suddenly offered when he saw that everyone had reached the same conclusion as Weiss just had. When no one accepted his offer, he just shrugged and took another gulp. "There's no way Oz'll keep Beacon in the tournament after this. It'll be PR suicide, but the politicians can deal with all that crap. I can probably put in a good word for all of you, so he might go easier on you… But I can tell you right now, he's not gonna exactly be lenient with punishment at the least. Best case scenario is that you get suspended from lessons for the next three months."

"But we uncovered all of this information!" Yang defended loudly, standing up so quickly it threatened to knock her chair down. "We all got hurt – Ruby's still in surgery, because we risked everything to uncover all of this!"

"That's another thing we need to talk about."

The sudden serious tone that this previously lax man had used suddenly sent shivers down everyone's spines. His red eyes shot between each member of Team RWBY, judging if each of them was safe to entrust with what he was going to tell them. He seemed to be conflicted, before he dismissed all of the thoughts that he had in favour of being honest with the girls before him.

"What I'm gonna tell you doesn't leave us, got it? What I'm going to tell you about Ruby – That's going to become public knowledge soon enough, but there's something else that you're all going to need to be aware of regarding her." He paused. "Regarding me too, now that I think about it."

"Qrow?"

"About Abnormals generally."

"What do Abnormals have to do with Ruby?" Weiss questioned, looking into row's red eyes with her own blue ones.

"Abnormals are arguably the world's strongest species right now." Qrow opened up his explanation with one of the current biggest debates in the modern world. "Humans and Faunus have the strongest Traits, but Faunus also have night vision by default, which gives them an edge over Humans. Primals are a whole other story, since they traded in half their superpowers effectiveness for natural superhuman strength. You saw that first hand.

But Abnormals like me are another story. We have a multitude of powers. The world record for powers in one Abnormal is sixteen. While we trade in a lot of our powers strength in turn to be able to house all these various powers, we train to the point where it doesn't even make a difference.

Essentially, Abnormals have more versatility than a Human or Faunus ever will."

This was a rhetoric that was often used in debates, by Abnormals themselves, and by pragmatist Humans who saw matters in a lot more blunt a way than most others did. Essentially, it was a huge talk on how much stronger the Abnormals were compared to everyone else.

It was never welcome, and it had done a lot to make Abnormals disliked the world over. Partly because, it had some validity to it.

"Question is, where did we come from?"

"Abnormals were supposed to have evolved from the Faunus." Blake pointed out, remembering all the books she had read on the subject. "Your species evolved from Menagerie about four hundred years ago."

"That's true in the history books, but if that's the case here, I need to ask you something."

Qrow's voice suddenly became quieter, as if to make sure anyone around him didn't hear.

"Where did the Grimm DNA come from in Abnormals?"

"Grimm DNA?!" That idea was totally unheard of. Grimm evaporated into dust when killed, so the idea of them actually having some sort of genetic structure didn't make any sense. They were soulless, dark creatures that barely even seemed to have an origin, never mind some sort of genetic makeup.

"Well, I say it's DNA, but we're not really sure what it is." Qrow explained. "There was a Hero a while ago who had a power to manipulate the movements of Grimm. It let us study the Grimm, and there was one similarity between Abnormals and Grimm. About one percentage of our being is the same. It's not public knowledge, because if the world knew Abnormals and Grimm could somehow be related, then discrimination and prejudice against Abnormals could peak into all-out war. Humans learned that with the Faunus the hard way."

Blake didn't say anything to that.

"But… This doesn't make sense to me." Yang said, catching her Uncle's attention. "You said this was stuff we needed to know about Ruby… what does Ruby have to do with Abnormals, or them being genetically similar to the Grimm?"

"Honestly, I was expecting this to happen to you, Yang, not to Ruby." The Abnormal man said, taking a swig of his flask. "Raven's Abnormal, just like I am, but you're Human in every way." The mention of the person Yang had identified as her mother caused her to flinch visibly, but she seemed to push that particular obsession to the side in favour of figuring out what was going on with her sister, right here and now. She settled down, and Qrow continued. "Humans and Abnormals are compatible, like Humans and Faunus are. So I expected something like this to happen to you… I didn't expect it to happen to Ruby."

"What happened to Ruby?"

"Ruby… Her genetic makeup is extremely prone to huge mutations. Qrow explained. "When she was born, Tai told me her eyes mutated to a silver colouring just a few hours after. Then to blue, then to green, then back to silver, which they are now. I'm not sure what caused this level of mutation, but the doctors had to scan Ruby to make sure that this was just an isolated deal. Maybe she was one of the few kids that was born with a Trait?... Nah, that's not what they found out."

He looked at his niece's team and sighed. "Ruby has an incredibly rare mutation that can totally change her entire species, right down to her DNA. She's one of maybe three cases that were even bothered to be recorded as a Human-mutated-Abnormal."

Human – Mutated – Abnormal. The phrase didn't even need to explanations that Qrow had given. Weiss absorbed the information the quickest, while Yang and Blake still needed a few moments to process exactly what they had just heard.

Ruby wasn't a Human anymore. She was an Abnormal. She was one of the most feared species that even existed on the planet today, and that knowledge was something that shook Weiss to the very core. A Human – Mutated – Abnormal… Wasn't even a concept she had ever entertained, but this day had been filled with those, so at this point, she was willing to accept just about anything.

While it explained the sudden display of her newfound optical powers… It still failed to explain so much more.

"Wait, what?" Yang spoke clearly, though her face betrayed her, clear confusion and utter bewilderment were totally coating her entire perception of what was occurring. Like it wasn't even real, like she was looking at the world from such a way that it was literally bending the facts. Weiss couldn't even blame her. This entire thing felt insane.

"Like I said, I never expected this to happen to Ruby." Qrow went on. "Summer and Tai are both unquestionably Human. If this should have happened to anyone, biologically, Yang should have been the one this happened to. When Tai found out about this mutation, he wanted to figure out what happened…" Yet another sigh. "The reason – It was pure luck. That was all. Ruby has a one in a trillion mutation that totally rewrites her genetic makeup if a certain condition is met. What that condition was… We didn't know, though I think now we do."

To Yang and Blake, and even to Weiss to a certain extend, it became apparent what had triggered all of this. Ruby had changed when she had seen all of them, battered broken, bloodied and barely even able to stand on their own feet. Blake, used as a prisoner and weapon against her own friends and teammates. Yang, with a brutal injury to her arm.

Weiss, beaten to within an inch of her life.

The cause of this mutation's activation was… A love for her team. A desire to protect them.

A desire to protect Weiss. That was what Yang came to understand. And Blake came to that same conclusion. Weiss even did… But it still felt so alien to even think of, that she struggled to accept it.

Intense emotions, and a longing to protect the people she cared about had caused Ruby to activate, totally unknowingly, the mutation that would forever change the very person that she was, and activate her latent Abnormal abilities. It had all been to protect them.

To… Protect her.

"A Dual Trait and a Human gene changing mutation." Qrow raised his flask suddenly, like he was giving a toast. "Ruby Rose, ladies. The single luckiest – Or unlucky – Person on this planet."

Though desperately trying to make light of the situation, it was pretty clear to everyone that this news disturbed Qrow as much as it did anyone else, since they were still basically in the dark. There wasn't much news regarding Ruby in spite of all of the new information that they had just learned. She could still be in danger right now.

Team RWBY had needed to know all of this information because if Ruby did pull through, then they needed to know exactly what they were working with. Someone who had Grimm blood in them, and was genetically one of the most coincidental people on the planet. A Dual Trait combined with an entire mutation that changed her species. The chances of it were astronomically low, yet here they were, presented to everyone clear as day.

"….If…" Shaky as her voice was, Blake dared to ask another question. "If… Ruby now has multiple powers… Can she control them like she always could?..."

"No chance." Qrow answered, flatly. "That's like if you grew a tail, you wouldn't know instantly how to use it, would you? Ruby's going to have to learn to control her newfound powers in the same way she had to learn to control her Teleporting abilities as well as her Kinetic Speed powers." He used for a moment and then put on a smile. "Being an Abnormal isn't a bad thing at all. I manage. But it's because Ruby is such a bizarre case that you're all worried. I taught her how to master her Teleporting abilities, and I intend to do the same for her new optical powers."

"You only could teach her about her Teleporting because you're a Teleporter as well." Yang reminded her uncle. "I think lasers are sorta different to Teleporting, aren't they?"

"Not like there's any other choice." A second passed. "Are you all afraid of her now?"

Fear towards Ruby hadn't been something Weiss had even thought of… Though now that she thought about it, it would have made a lot more sense for her to be afraid of her team leader after learning all of this asinine sounding information. Ruby was now a total unknown, and possible danger to the people that surrounded her. By definition, didn't that make her someone that she should be afraid of?

But it was the opposite. Weiss didn't feel anything different when it came to the subject of her partner. Ruby was the same person she had been three hours ago, wasn't she? The news of her being Abnormal now wasn't something that changed her perception.

Weiss didn't feel a thing different towards Ruby… And that included the feelings that she'd finally figured out before this entire mess began.

Her teammates felt the same. But the knowledge of her transforming into an entirely new species….

It was a lot to take in.

* * *

Weiss struggled to think of what it was that she should do. Before everything that had happened, she had been so sure, her mind finally made up on what it was that she needed to tell Ruby. Everything, if it had gone just right, would have been the perfect end to this entire escapade of nonsense feelings Weiss had been battling with recently.

But with the more recent revelations, that Ruby now had Abnormal blood in her…. She just wasn't sure what to think. Would this change anything? Weiss couldn't see a reason why it should change things, but the unknown factor surrounding her know was just too shaky a foundation for her to even begin to think about anything.

The world had changed for her today, and she wasn't sure what to make of all the changes that were happening to her world. Their futures were just totally unknown factors at this point, and the possibility of her becoming a Hero now seemed slim. The possibility any of them had at becoming a Hero now seemed slim. Everything felt different, when in reality, only one thing was truly different.

It was just her luck that the thing that was different was the person that had been causing her all these feelings.

She just didn't know what to do, what to make of everything.

The conclusion that she'd come to before the mission had begun was so simply, yet so unexpected that it had made Weiss doubt herself many times. So often the idea had jumped into her head, but she'd dismissed it completely as impossible, that there was no way what she was thinking could possibly be right.

But as time had passed, she'd considered the idea more and more, until she came to a conclusion of her own.

It wasn't impossible. In fact, it was the only real option left.

She had fallen for Ruby.

In all honesty, she couldn't even point to a specific point and say that that was the moment when she knew that she'd fallen for her partner. She wasn't even sure if there was a moment like that, but the fact remained that it was, well and truly, the only explanation… And the only one that felt right, that she had left to her.

When had it happened? What had caused this sudden spike in her affections towards the now Abnormal girl? What had it been that had made her realize that these weren't feelings that were just going to go away anymore? That no matter how much she tried to mask them, that they weren't going to disappear?

She didn't know. She doubted that she'd ever know. One thing that she did know what this.

When Ruby had fallen, when she thought that Ruby wasn't going to wake up… What she felt right now… She'd never experienced real horror like that before in her entire life. Not once had she ever felt the crippling fear in her stomach that made her want to vomit her insides up. Many things had happened to her in her life. Neglect, her scar, her loneliness… Everything that had occurred to her…

It didn't sting half as bad as the thought of losing Ruby did. When she prayed to the Gods that she never believed in, that she'd go through all that pain again, that she'd take whatever bullets she had to… That she'd gladly go back to Atlas and live under an oppressive boot the rest of her life as long as Ruby was okay…

Really, that was all she needed to know. That was all that she'd needed to know that really, if she thought that she was going to be able to mask these emotions as something else… She was just lying to herself.

She was in love with Ruby.

When she'd spoken to her on the rooftop as they Teleported over to the warehouses… She'd told Ruby that she'd needed to speak with her one they were back.

She'd needed to tell Ruby bout all these feelings that she had for her. That she felt this way about her. Even if she was met with some kind of rejection, she wanted ruby to at least know where she stood. She wasn't about to get down and beg for Ruby to give her a chance. She was a Schnee, after all… But if something had come of it…

Then she wouldn't have resisted. She would have welcomed it with open arms. Yang had been right about her feelings for her half-sister the entire time. She'd known before Weiss herself had.

Now though, she wondered if that still applied. She wondered, was it selfish of her to think of what Ruby's response would be if she even remembered? Was it going to be okay to even ask about that in the state that she was in?

Did the same questions still apply?

"What's on your mind, Weiss?"

Though she had gone to the entrance of the hospital to think alone, Yang seemed to have a way of finding the Schnee heiress whenever she wanted to. Sometimes, Weiss wondered if Yang followed her, or had some sort of tracking bug on her or something equally whacky and so clearly Yang-like that it wasn't worth crossing off the list of possibilities.

She didn't say anything when Yang stood next to her, and watched the rain fall with her. Since they had entered the hospital, the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and huge rainclouds had made their way over the Vale city. Weiss liked to just watch the rain fall. It reminded her of the snow back home at Atlas, only warmer. Growing up in such a cold kingdom, rain in a nation like Vale felt like taking a shower, not that Weiss was about to just jump into the downpour right now.

It was just pleasant to have nearby while she was trying to think.

"Well, Ruby's in the clear now." Yang informed her teammate with a smile. "Doctors aren't sure, but Ruby recovered pretty well. She might even wake up in the next few hours. That's good, huh?"

"Mhmm." Weiss nodded without making too much noise. Inwardly, she felt like an entire anvil had just been removed from her chest. She let out the longest sigh as possible, while remaining silent as she could.

Truth be told… She just didn't know what to say to Yang in this situation. She was Ruby's sister. Did that mean she approved of her, or was she going to try to kill her every time she looked at her sister? Yang joked around a lot… But that always made it hard to tell when she was being serious. Did she really know the truth… Or was she oblivious?

For a short while, Yang just stood there with Weiss, watching the rain fall just as her Atlas born teammate did. They didn't speak, but appreciated one another's company nonetheless. Despite the vastly different personalities that they had, they had less conflict than Weiss and Ruby seemed to, which Yang fund amusing. Although Yang knew why now…

A few moments passed before Yang spoke again. "You know, it's okay to admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That you've been worried about Ruby." She offered her Thermo Trait using teammate a smile. "Ruby's old enough to make her own choices, you know. Even if I didn't like something that she did, I wouldn't be able to stop her from doing anything that she liked… that made her happy… Even if that means I worry about her." She then proceeded to stare at a puddle, watching closely as the water hit the surface, and then jumped back out as the impact caused the water to return to its original point, and jump up in place. "Ruby made her choice when she did at she did… And I'm worried sick about her…. But it was her choice… At the end of everything, I respect it."

"…She's lucky to have you then." Weiss told her.

"Huh?"

"Nothing." She dismissed quickly. "That's… Not exactly what I'm thinking about though."

"Ah, you're thinking if your sweetheart will be okay."

The very first thought was that it was good to see Yang making jokes again, showing her thick skin and ability to make a joke about any situation. Weiss came very close to laughing like a maniac in that situation, were it not for the severity of the situation. The second thought was… Yang was right. She was worried about Ruby. Still pondering what she was supposed to say when she saw her again.

The smallest shift in her head was joined by a softly spoken sentence. "Yeah… I am."

"I just told you Ruby was old enough to make her own choices, didn't I?" Yang lightly tapped Weiss' arm with a small grin on her face. "If Ruby's happy to be with you, then I'm happy for her as well."

"You were serious about all those jokes?!"

"I'm more observant than you give me credit for." The Explosive Impact Trait user just offered another kind smile. "It's obvious you like Ruby. You fight with her way too much to not be."

"I preferred it when you were just making jokes at my expense." Weiss said, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. She didn't know how long it had been there, but she only noticed that her face was growing hot as Yang made that observation.

"You should tell her." The taller girl said. "If you make her happy, I'm cool with you two being together. That's all I'm worried about, Ruby being happy with you… If you do hurt her though…" Yang proceeded to unleash a series of explosions in her palms, but she kept her smile on the entire time."

"Don't hurt the younger sister of a girl with explosive superpowers. Got it." Weiss managed to chuckled, but she got the message loud and clear. It was utterly pointless though.

She had no intention of hurting Ruby.

"…Thanks, Yang."

"Anytime, Ice Queen."

* * *

One hour later, Ruby was cleared. Not only that, she had recovered from said performances, and was allowed visitors. Her recovery had been swift and totally inhuman, and the reason discovered was simple.

In addition to her optical powers, she also had some sort of Healing ability, that activated when she was injured, regardless of if she wanted it to or not. Her body would simply heal itself regardless of any input on Ruby's half. Doing this though, it took away her stamina, which didn't mean it was a perfect healing mechanism.

It had its limits. Hence why Ruby was so utterly exhausted when everyone came in to see her. Yang's was easily the most emotional, outright hugging her bedridden sister as tightly as she could. Any worries regarding her affection towards her half sibling because of her now Abnormal physiology were well and truly dashed.

A bit too far in the opposite direction. As Yang tightly clutched onto her sister, Ruby looked like she was about to burst. She tried, weak as she still was, to push Yang off of her. "Yang… Can't… Breathe…"

"Oh, sorry!" Yang quickly apologised and got up, keeping her sister close all the same. "I was seriously worried about you, sis. Don't freak me out like that again."

"I'm not trying to make some sort of habit of it or anything." Ruby smiled. "Honestly, I don't even really remember a thing that happened. It's just kind of big blur, y'know?"

"Long story short, you kicked Primal butt." Blake flatly stated with a smile on her face as well. "Glad to see you're okay, Ruby. You've been out for a while."

Collectively, Ruby had been unconscious for only about five hours, a very short space of time in comparison to what she had been though. To everyone, it had felt like a week. Constant worry and pacing… A lack of sleep mixed with the anxiety everyone felt for their young leader made it impossible for them to know how long it had really been, without a clock handy.

"Uncle Qrow's here too, Ruby." Yang informed her sister with a smile. "He's the one who helped us."

"Uncle Qrow's here?!" Ruby suddenly began beaming like a maniac at the revelation her biologically unrelated uncle was here. "Where is he?"

"Talking to Ozpin. He's explaining everything that happened… And some other things."

"What other things?"

"…You'll find out."

"Uh huh… Hey, where's Weiss?" After scanning the room a few times, Ruby noted that their team was short by one member not being here, which did fill her with a bit of concern for what was happening. "Did – Did Weiss get hurt?"

"Nah, she's totally fine." Yang assured her, amused by the concern she was showing for her partner. "Weiss… She wants to talk to you on her own. It's important, she says. And private. Me and Blake are gonna step back outside for a bit so you two can talk, okay?"

Clear confusion and concern was evident in the silver eyes of the Abnormal girl, but she nodded in understanding, and allowed her teammates to exit the room. She had no idea what to expect from Weiss, being totally unaware of what it was that her partner and friend wanted to talk to her about. She was expecting to have her ears yelled off about how stupid she'd been for an action that she didn't even remember doing.

She overheard a small conversation that the two members of her team had with Weiss, but was unable to make out any particular words that were said, before the door was shut, and she realized that she was alone in the room with Weiss. She heard a few footsteps before the pale skinned girl eventual turned the corner to look at her.

When she saw the injured girl, Weiss almost had to look away in surprise at what bandages she still had on. A load around her abdomen, and a brace for her neck, which had been taken off now. Multiple cuts along the side of her back, as indicated by a large number of bandages that went wrapped around the girl's body in different directions. Combined with pure exhaustion, Ruby had suffered some pretty bad injuries to boot.

Yet she was still smiling.

"Heya, Weiss."

How the younger girl managed this sort of bright and sunny personality while being bedridden was a question Weiss was going to ask herself until the end of time. She forced herself to reply, trying hard not to chastise her for being reckless, or from becoming far too emotional.

"Hello, Ruby." Weiss made her way next to a seat by Ruby's bedside, where she placed herself down and looked towards the younger girl. "How are you feeling?"

"Kinda good, actually. Better than you'd expect from someone in a hospital bed."

"That's good… Do you… Remember how you got here?"

"Not really. It's just sort of a blur. I told Yang and Blake that I don't really remember a lot of it clearly. Blake said I kicked Primal butt though." Explained Ruby, making a few little fist pumping gestures as she told the story. "I… Remember that I was fighting someone… And then I couldn't feel anything… Like I just shut down."

Weiss recognised that as the moment when the Nullifiers were activated against her. She evidentially didn't remember the pummelling that she took afterwards, which was good. It meant she remembered less pain.

"You got knocked out by a device called a Nullifier back then. They can supress our powers." Weiss explained briefly. Ruby would be told all of this stuff in detail, but right now, she didn't need to know everything.

"Oh, those things? Blake and I found them in that warehouse… But she said they didn't work… I guess then the White Fang fixed them… Hey Weiss, are you okay?"

"Hmm? I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"You seem sort of… Distracted. Is everything okay?"

The Schnee girl couldn't decide if she was more touched or if she was more gobsmacked that Ruby was asking if she was okay. Here she was laid up in a hospital with a thousand and one injuries that she had suffered in a brutal battle with a large group of Primals that wanted nothing more than to beat her to death, and she was asking if Weiss was okay because she seemed a bit distracted.

With a sigh, Weiss decided that if she didn't do this now… She wasn't going to be able to.

"... Look, Ruby, I need to speak to you about something. I'd prefer to have done this a bit later when you were out of the hospital… But if I don't do this now I don't think I can."

"Okay…. What's going on?" There was a definite look of worry now in her eyes that Weiss recognised, no doubt reflected in her own. Ideally, she wouldn't be throwing this at Ruby just after she woke up… But if Ozpin and Qrow came into the room right now, then too many things might start happening and her chance would be lost.

"….You remember back on the rooftops… When I told you I needed to talk to you?"

"Yeah?..."

"Well… It's about that… I need to talk to you about… Somethings I've been feeling." Weiss quickly began to twiddle her thumbs, unsure of what exactly she was supposed to say next. Though she had come in here with serious plans to explain to Ruby exactly what she felt, there weren't any words to help her do so. It wasn't anything like she'd expected. Her words just froze up, and she tried to think of them as clearly as possible.

Eventually, she just spoke and said it how it was.

"…When you got knocked out in that fight…. There was… A really part of me that thought that you weren't going to get back up again." She started. "I really did think that… you were gone for a short moment. When I found out you were still alive… I just… There wasn't anything… that I wouldn't have done to make sure that you were okay.

And… I've been thinking about that a lot. What I'd do if you weren't here… And I don't… Think that I would be anywhere close as to how happy I am with you around. The fight we had… The one where I attacked you… Everything that frustrated me about you was just… Gone after that. It was like I could see you as an entirely different person…. But it wasn't like that… I was seeing you. Just you."

"W-Weiss?"

"After that fight," Weiss continued, the words now refusing to stop, even if she wanted them too. "I… I've felt closer to you than I've felt to anyone in my entire life, and can't even begin to express how much that's affected me."

"Weiss?"

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to even begin saying this since I've never felt this way before, but – "

"Weiss."

Before another word could exit Weiss' mouth, Ruby had brought up her left arm onto Weiss' cheek. Her touch was soft and gentle, like it was barely even there. For a moment, the two of them just stared at one another, neither of them speaking. Ruby just held the biggest smile on her face, and looked like she was about to start letting tears run down her face if she wasn't careful.

"If this is gonna be a whole confession, I can save you some time." Ruby smiled. "I like you as well."

For a moment, Weiss felt like their positions had suddenly just turned completely around, and that she was the stuttering hyperactive who barely knew how to shut her mouth, and Ruby was the one who was calm about the entire thing. The mere thought of that caused her to blush a bright crimson scarlet colour, and she used her hands to hide her face, not that it helped her in the slightest.

Ruby just laughed to herself. "Kinda feels like we've swapped places, huh?"

"Shut. Up."

"You're the one who came in here to tell me that, aren't you?"

"….Did Yang mention this to you?"

"No, I swear she didn't! Blake neither!"

"So I'm just transparent then… Great."

Laughing a little bit, Ruby just smiled at Weiss, still convinced almost that she was in some sort of dream… But if she was, she fully intended to make the most of it. If it turned out this was reality… then she'd be totally fine with that too. "Like I'm any better… I thought you just didn't say anything cause… Well, you didn't like me."

"…Took me a while to realize I did… If I fell in love with such a dolt, what exactly does that mean I am?"

"Uh… Dolt squared?"

"That was rhetorical."

Giggling at Weiss' clear embarrassment, Ruby realized that this was actually the real world. This all felt far too real to be fake, under any sort of circumstances. "I'd get up and kiss you, but uh… The whole 'Patients must not leave their beds until they are cleared to do so' thing…"

She saw Weiss' blush turn dark red to outright steaming. Whatever fronts she put up, Weiss was just as prone as anyone else to getting flustered. Probably more so. Her fluster caused Ruby to laugh outright again… But she didn't expect Weiss to actually get up and lean over…. Just out of Ruby's reach.

Like she was daring Ruby to follow through with what she'd said.

"This help?"

"…Yeah." Ruby smirked, and leaned forward, not stopping until she felt her lips brush against Weiss'.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of info into this one... There you go guys. 
> 
> So here's the thing - this story won't go past 15 chapters, If I do this right. I have another WhiteRose story that I have planned out which is going to be absolutely amazing, and this one is now mostly a concept piece for it. A lot of the ideas in here are going to be adopted into the new one, but I feel like you guys will love what I have planned for the new one. I will finish this story, since It would bug me if I didn't, but that's why this chapter is so long. Less chapters in exchange for longer ones. 
> 
> At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all next time. See ya! 

**Author's Note:**

> Right, since this is a new story, you all know what that means - Time for a couple info dumps. Ill leave those under all this so you can check them if you want to.
> 
> I'm hoping that you all enjoy this. I'm a massive, massive fan of RWBY, and me and my girlfriend came up with this idea, so this is basically being written for her - Since we're both massive superpower nerds. If you have any questions about the story, ideas you'd like to submit, etc, lemme know ^_^
> 
> Either way, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed ^_^
> 
> Team QRTZ (Quartz) is a team I made up to fill up a Uni application file. Same with team MTAL (Metal) And SLVR (Silver)I can make them slightly more prominent if enough of you are interested, but they're mostly background characters - Cause why the hell not?
> 
> SDC - Schnee Design Company - Dust doesn't exist in this world, so the next best substitute is Hero Costume Designs. Anyone who watches My Hero Academia knows where I'm going with this. Those of you who don't, Hero costumes can enhance a persons powers, so it'd make for quite the business racket in a world filled with them.
> 
> Hero Costume - Basically Hero attire. So in the RWBYverse, Ruby's Slayer outfit, Weiss's Snowpea outfit, etc, as well as everyone's default costumes would classify as their Hero attire. Designed to make the most out of a particular Trait.
> 
> Trait - A superpower. Varies HEAVILY.
> 
> Abnormals and Primals - Two species that evolved in the world due to Traits - More info on them as the story progresses.  
> Human/Faunus relations - Far better than in the RWBYverse, but as always, exceptions still vary. Still enough to warrant The White Fang's existence.


End file.
